The Slythindor
by Cyri's Alter Ego
Summary: Written for NaNoWriMo 2009. Albus is misled. Rose is angry. James is immature. Lysander's just WEIRD... And Scorpius is confused. And who can blame him?
1. Rubeus Hagrid and the Wrong House

**Well, HI. I wrote this in November for NaNoWriMo, and I finally decided to stop being lazy and just publish it already. I'm going to upload all the chapters right here, right now, probably within this hour, 'cause they're all already written.**

**And bear in mind that I wrote this all in thirty days, so if it's unreadable, that's why.**

_PART ONE_

Chapter I - Rubeus Hagrid and The Wrong House

_'Thinking you know when in fact you don't is a fatal mistake, to which we are all prone.'  
- Bertrand Russell_

Scorpius Malfoy slouched off the Hogwarts Express, his eyes slowly adjusting to the half-light that filled Hogsmeade Station. Students were milling around, chattering excitedly like a large group of extremely annoyed budgies.

"Firs' years!" called a deep voice over the crowd. Scorpius raised his blonde head to see a huge giant of a man with a face-obscuring grey beard. The little of his face that Scorpius could see was ruddy, and he was holding a large lantern. He was also beckoning to the new students with vast hands. "Firs' years this way!"

Of course - it was the dim-witted gamekeeper, Hagrid. Scorpius's father had told him of how dull he was. The oaf was also the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, apparently. How he had got that position was anyone's guess. Well, Dumbledore _was_ the Head when he was appointed... Scorpius supposed that it figured out to make sense – well, as much sense as the World of Dumbledore made.

_Well, that's one subject to cross off the list for when I get into third year._

Scorpius smirked, and joined the masses of first years milling around Hagrid.

***

"There it is," Hagrid exclaimed, pointing over the horizon with a thick finger that was the size of a salami. "Hogwarts!"

Even Scorpius had to admit that the castle was absolutely stunning. From where he sat, sailing across the black lake, which was as smooth as glass, the school was a breathtaking sight. Numerous turrets rose from it, tapering into points towards the tops. Grey stone walls encased the students inside - though Scorpius could see large windows in the towers which obviously let light into the rooms. Two magnificent twin oak doors lead the way into the castle. At that moment, they were closed.

"Wow," said a brown-haired boy in the boat beside Scorpius, his voice soft and his brown eyes large. Hagrid turned to him, a beaming smile crinkling his features. Well, it was hard to tell - a huge mass of beard obscured most of his face, but of the little Scorpius could see it _looked_ like he was smiling.

"Yeh'll get some good times outta this place, that's fer sure," he grinned, before turning his eyes back on the castle that he obviously loved.

Scorpius gazed down into the lake. Its murky depths were hidden from view, and Scorpius could just see the stars reflected on the black surface, but somehow the pale-faced boy could tell that it was deep. Very, very deep. For the first time that night, he felt slightly awed. Scorpius wondered if his father had felt this way when he had first started at Hogwarts.

A smile graced Scorpius's features. Imagining his proud, tall father, with his long rippling coats (that were always buttoned right up to the chin), as a small, terrified first-year waiting for his Sorting, was laughable.

Draco Malfoy would never have felt awed at _anything_, after all.

***

"Malfoy, Scorpius!"

Scorpius walked quickly out of line – managing to push rudely past a dark-haired girl who gasped in annoyance, tripping and almost falling – and sat on the rickety stool.

_Wow, I wonder which house I'm going to be in? _he thought sarcastically, allowing himself a smirk. _As if I didn't already know. _

His mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, great-aunts - all of them had been in Slytherin, the noble house of the snake.

The Hat was dropped over his eyes. Now all Scorpius could see was the dark inside of the hat. A small tear let a crack of light in, but otherwise, he may as well have had his eyes firmly shut.

"Hmm..." Scorpius heard a small voice in his left ear. "A Malfoy... Interesting, interesting..."

Scorpius gave a tiny sigh and mentally rolled his eyes. _Hurry up, we haven't got all night!_

But now the voice had turned serious. "You may think you know which house will become yours, but I can probe into the far corners of your mind. Further than even you know... You are much different than your father, I can tell you that much. And for what is to come, you will need every ounce of the courage I sense within you. But where shall you go?"

The pale-faced boy found confusion at that moment. He forgot his swagger, and his expression became puzzled, not that anyone in the Hall could see it. _What...?_

"This is my decision, Scorpius Malfoy. Use it well. _Gryffindor_!"

Scorpius stiffened as he heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall, every trace of his earlier smugness wiped away.

_Gryffindor?_

The Sorting Hat toppled off his head and fell limply onto the highly polished floor. Scorpius's hands gripped the sides of the stool until his knuckles turned white – even whiter than they usually were. This wasn't possible... he had heard wrongly... Surely he couldn't be in _Gryffindor_... Scorpius struggled to find an excuse as his mind grappled with the denial of the situation.

No cheers had erupted from the Gryffindor table. There were a few confused glances as some of the new Mudbloods wondered why no one was clapping, but most people knew about the reputation of the Malfoys. Even some of the Mudbloods had heard about it on the train. Scorpius could practically see their thoughts. And they mirrored his.

_Gryffindor?_

The silence continued. Every eye was still on Scorpius. The only sound was a slight hissing as people whispered to their friends what the problem was.

Eventually, someone gave a rather timid clap, and soon a smattering of polite applause broke out from the Gryffindor table. It wasn't terribly enthusiastic, even at its peak, and it quickly faded away.

The stern-looking teacher next to Scorpius prodded him sharply, seeming undeterred by the strange situation. "Well? Off you go!"

His mouth dry, Scorpius was hyper-aware of every gaze still following him as he walked numbly across the Great Hall to the Gryffindor table. He cast a final, longing glance towards the Slytherin table before sinking into the nearest seat available and wishing very much that the ground would swallow him whole. Even that would be better that being sat at this table, with the other Gryffindors eyeing him as though he were some odd sort of half deformed species.

Gryffindor... How humiliating.

"Moody, Rachel!" quickly became a Ravenclaw, followed by "Ottery, Toby!" ("_Hufflepuff_!")_,_"Ranchester, Timothy!" ("_Hufflepuff_!") and "Pelfan, Helen!" ("_Slytherin_!")

But Scorpius hardly noticed the rest of the Sorting. In fact, the only time he looked up at all was when one name was called.

"Potter, Albus!"

Scorpius looked up sharply as he heard the name called out. His grey eyes widened as the black-haired boy stumbled out of line, his face a chalky white. The boy looked about as bad as Scorpius felt. He thrust the ancient Hat over his eyes swiftly – and it looked like he was just trying to avoid all the eagerly staring eyes. And Scorpius couldn't blame him.

James Potter, Harry Potter's first son, had already arrived at Hogwarts and been Sorted into Gryffindor two years ago. From what Scorpius had heard James got enough attention as it was. This had already inflated his ego, no doubt. Now his brother was here, and by the looks of it, the black-haired first-year was scared out of his skin, completely contrasting against James's aloof personality.

"_Gryffindor_!" announced the Hat, after a slight pause.

The Gryffindor table exploded in cheers. Scorpius put his hands together once before folding his arms broodingly. He didn't feel very much like joining in with the table's celebrations. The thing hadn't even sunk in yet, that he was in... in...

Albus walked shakily to the Gryffindor table, his face a strange mixture of relief and apprehension. Some of the colour was flooding back into his cheeks.

The black-haired boy slumped down in the chair next to Scorpius, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Wow, that was scary," he whispered to himself. He gave an involuntary shudder.

From down the line, there was a good-natured chuckle. Another black-haired boy thumped his brother on the back. The two looked surprisingly alike – the older boy was just a little larger, with brown eyes.

"Well, you got into Gryffindor, didn't you?"

"James!" Albus blinked in surprise. "Y-you're _here_!"

"Well, obviously." James rolled his eyes. "I'm on the Gryffindor table, 'cause I'm in Gryffindor house." He spoke slowly, as though explaining to a three-year-old that one plus one made two.

Albus went scarlet, giving a distinctly different effect than his ashen complexion of a few moments ago had.

However, a moment later, a broad grin had unfurled on his face, his flush fading fast. "You see? I'm _not _in Slytherin! So I proved you wrong!"

"I only said you _might_," replied James with a mischievous grin. Scorpius had a feeling that he was only doing it to annoy Albus. "You _might_ have been in Slytherin."

"But I'm not," retorted Albus, unperturbed. "So I _did_ prove you wrong."

"Yeah, but you looked like a right prat doing it," James grinned, his eyes lighting up as he teased the new Gryffindor. He made his voice turn high-pitched and squeaky in an over-the-top impression of his brother. "'I _won't_! I _won't _be in Slytherin!'"

Albus made a face. "Don't you have someone else to annoy, James?"

"What's so wrong with Slytherin?" asked Scorpius boldly, deciding he couldn't sit by and let them make fun of the house that he had been brought up to love.

Albus turned to face him. "Oh, you're that Malfoy!"

Scorpius's brow furrowed. "'That Malfoy'?" he quoted, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah," replied Albus. "You're a Malfoy. You're supposed to be in Slytherin."

Scorpius sighed and threw another swift look at the Slytherin table. "I know," he said softly, now thoroughly wishing that he had left them alone to joke about Slytherin.

"...But you're not." Albus seemed a little confused. "So you can't be as bad as the others, can you, if you're a Gryffindor?"

"Al!" hissed James.

Scorpius's temper flared. How dare this insolent... _Potter_... say that his family was... was... "I can be whatever I want to be whether I'm a Slytherin or a stinking Gryffindor!"

_Okay, that was childish_, Scorpius admitted to himself. _Not the _best_ comeback in the world, but..._

"But Gryffindor's the best house to be in. Slytherin are a load of-" He broke off into a gasp of pain as James aimed a kick at him from under the table. "What was that for?" he asked James angrily. Scorpius gave a tiny smirk at Albus's thick skull.

"At least Slytherin blood - and _Malfoy _blood - is pure," he muttered, so that Albus and James couldn't hear him. "Their grandmother's a filthy Mudblood, for crying out loud. _And_ their aunt. I can't expect much except narrow-mindedness from _them_."

"Weasley, Rose!" The call broke off their conversation.

"Rosie!" Albus drew in his breath sharply. He crossed his fingers. "If she doesn't get into Gryffindor she'll be so upset!"

_If she doesn't get to Gryffindor she'll be so upset!_ Scorpius mimicked inside his head, watching the Hat drop over her wavy reddish-brown hair, which was secured with a single silver hair slide. It gleamed faintly in the light of the suspended candles before it disappeared under the material of the Hat.

The silent break lasted barely a second as Albus held his breath. The tear in the Hat's brim opened wide like a mouth.

"_Gryffindor_!"

"Al! James!" Rose sat neatly in the chair directly opposite Albus. Her freckle-covered face was shining as she revelled in being Sorted into the house she wanted to be in.

Her brown eyes turned on Scorpius. "And... you are?" There was something about her voice that Scorpius didn't like... something that made it sound like she was addressing some particularly loathsome-looking insect instead of the heir to Malfoy Manor, which was one of the oldest wizarding dwellings in the south west of England.

"My name is Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius said, with as much dignity as he could still salvage. Rose stared at him with even more distaste.

"Oh... of course." She wrinkled her nose slightly. "You're a _Malfoy_."

She flashed a smile at James and Albus, who were looking vaguely embarrassed. It seemed like they didn't want to insult Scorpius, despite Albus's comments of a few moments ago.

Scorpius closed his eyes slowly, trying to keep a hold on his temper. He picked up his knife and fork - food had suddenly appeared on the table, as the Sorting was over. The stern witch who had prodded Scorpius was taking the Sorting Hat and the shabby stool out of the Great Hall, back to... well, wherever they went for the year when they weren't being used, Scorpius supposed.

_Everyone's too nice around here,_ Scorpius thought. _All except for the _Weasley_ girl. I mean, the Potter didn't even know he was insulting me... it's just scary. And now they're trying to defend me speechlessly! Ugh..._

Rose dragged James and Albus into a long and deeply boring conversation about Transfiguration, which, by the sound of it, mainly involved Rose shooting questions at James about what the first years did in the first few weeks, and when they got onto the 'exciting stuff'. Scorpius rolled his eyes, trying to express how much disdain he felt for the Gryffindors who actually _wanted_ to be seated at this table.

His eyes roved the Hall once more, and Scorpius was surprised to see that Albus was giving him a reassuring smile, abandoning Rose's interrogation. Scorpius turned his eyes to his plate quickly, pretending he hadn't read the look in Albus's green eyes as clearly as the day.

_I don't think you're so bad._

Scorpius stared at his roast potatoes intently, trying to get rid of any emotions that he felt – including the anger.

_What do I care for his opinion? He's Albus_ Potter_._


	2. Albus Severus Potter and Four Poster Bed

Chapter II - Albus Severus Potter and Four-Poster Beds

_'The angry people are those people who are the most afraid.'  
- Dr. Robert Anthony_

Scorpius tossed and turned in his four-poster bed, unable to even think about sleep. The curtains were not properly drawn and a tiny sliver of moonlight sliced through the gap. This was only the smallest of reasons why he couldn't have drifted into unconsciousness, though he would have done so gladly.

An owl hooted from somewhere in the Owlery. Almost immediately, all the owls started up a loud cry. Scorpius could particularly distinguish the raucous call of his own eagle owl, Snake.

Snake. Yet another reminder of his Slytherin heritage.

At that moment, Scorpius realised that he had been far, far too certain that he was going to end up in the Slytherin house. He hadn't even begun to consider the possibility that he might have become a Gryffindor. In fact, he hadn't even considered the possibility that he might have become anything except a Slytherin.

_Well, why wouldn't I?_ he argued with himself angrily. _Everyone in my family's been in the damn house, after all. I mean, I _expected_ I'd become one. Even the odd Mudblood gets into Slytherin, sometimes. Come on! What did _I_ do that's so... 'worthy' of Gryffindor?_

Leaving the Great Hall for Gryffindor Tower had been a numbing experience. A stunningly beautiful prefect with long silvery hair had led the new Gryffindors up many wide flights of staircases until they reached the portrait of an extremely fat lady in a pink silken dress. During this time, all the students had been staring, wide-eyed, at Scorpius, just like they had during his Sorting. He had done his level best to ignore them, though it was hard. He had simply wanted to pull out his brand new, thirteen inch dragon heartstring wand and shoot some sort of spell at them (or, if all else failed – as he admittedly didn't know how to use any magic yet – he wanted to at least whack them over the head with it).

The painting had then asked them for the password. Once the prefect had met this demand by giving the password - which was madarosis - the painting had swung open to reveal a large, comfortable-looking room filled with squashy red and gold gilded armchairs. The new Gryffindor boys had travelled up a winding spiral staircase on the left - the girls' bedrooms had been in the tower on the right - and collapsed into bed.

Thinking of the Gryffindor common room, with the colours of red and gold gracing every surface, along with the statues of upright, keen-eyes lions, made Scorpius's heart ache with loss. His father had told him many times of the stone Slytherin common room, which had once been a dungeon. He had spun tales that had held a younger Scorpius entranced, tales of a small fire crackling in the corner, casting the profiles of the Slytherins into dark shadow, and of silver and green hangings, embroidered with hissing snakes that seemed to move. Scorpius's father had spoken of it like it was his home - and Scorpius always assumed that it would be his home, too.

Suddenly, a terrible thought struck Scorpius. He sat bolt upright in the dark, the covers crumpling as they fell away from him. This wasn't good. Why hadn't he remembered this before?

_What am I going to tell my father?_

Scorpius massaged his temples, his eyes closed. It wasn't very hard to imagine his father's instant reaction - and it wasn't a scene that Scorpius particularly wanted to witness. He wasn't too worried about his mother, Arostia Malfoy - she drifted through life with 'be yourself', 'never lose sight of your dreams', and things of the like as her mottos, even though she had been in Slytherin house herself. But maybe even she wouldn't stand for her only son becoming a _Gryffindor_... Scratch that, she probably wouldn't stand for him being in any house except Slytherin, Scorpius was sure.

So, in short, his mother plus his father equalled two angry parents.

"Damn," he hissed. As if he needed another reason to completely detest being one of Hogwarts's newest Gryffindors.

He was going to get stared at in the corridors, too... as the 'first Malfoy _ever_ to be Sorted into Gryffindor'. Scorpius could imagine the whispers, the rumours that would fly around the school, spreading like wildfire, becoming crazier and madder until he was unable to deny them at all without yet another rumour blossoming from the denial. He shuddered.

_Well, at least I won't literally _see_ my mother and father's reactions..._ thought the pale-faced first-year grimly. _Sometimes, it's an advantage going to a boarding school._

"Scorpius?" A small - yet highly annoying - voice pierced the silence of the night from the four-poster to the direct right of his.

Scorpius sighed, gritting his teeth. For some reason yet unknown to him, Albus had decided to take the four-poster that happened to be next to Scorpius's. He had insisted (with a tiny smile on his face, however) that Scorpius had chosen his bed _after_ he had, but Scorpius didn't understand where that belief had come from. Albus had clearly _watched _Scorpius take a bed, and then taken the one next to it. Did he assume that they were friends? What a ridiculous notion. A Malfoy, friends with a Potter?

Then again, it was unheard of for a Malfoy to be in Gryffindor, in any case.

"What do you want?" asked the blonde-haired boy through his teeth, his eyes still closed. He didn't deem Albus worthy of the bother of opening his eyes.

"I just wanted to know if you were all right. You know, after today. You didn't seem to be sleeping, and you sat up kind of scared-ishly just now."

Scorpius lay down again and turned over so he wasn't facing Albus. _I knew people in this house were unnaturally friendly. _"Go away, Potter."

He heard the Gryffindor boy draw in his breath sharply.

Scorpius's tone changed - now it was tinged with snide humour as he smirked. "Wow, I feel so bad. I hurt your feelings."

"No, it's not that," answered Albus, his voice sounding slightly annoyed at the assumption that his feelings were damaged. "But why did you call me Potter?"

"That's your surname, isn't it?" snapped Scorpius.

"Well, yeah," he admitted. "But you don't have to use such a formal tone."

"Feel free to call me 'Malfoy'," Scorpius invited in a muttered tone. "I'm proud of it. Oh – but I can understand why you wouldn't want to use your surname, though. Don't worry."

"Huh? What are you talking about? Why wouldn't I-"

"Forget it." Scorpius refused to be dragged into a long, pointless conversation about what they were calling each other. It wasn't like they were going to be talking a lot, anyway.

"I don't really understand you." Albus's voice turned softer.

"Why not?" Scorpius turned over, ruffling his covers.

_I'm in damn Gryffindor, do you expect me to be skipping? _

He stared through the gap in his four-poster. Albus's bright green eyes gazed at him seriously. They shone even in the half light of the stars.

"Because you've been Sorted into the best house in the whole school," the black-haired boy said bluntly. "And you act like you don't want to be here. You act like you want to be in Slytherin."

"That's because I do." Scorpius clenched his fists under the bedclothes. Why couldn't this _dolt_ understand? Was he really as shallow as to think that _everyone_ wanted to be in Gryffindor?

"Why-"

"Why?" Scorpius's voice was hard. "_Why_? My family is made up of all Slytherins. This tradition goes back further than my _grandfather _can remember. My father was in Slytherin. My mother was in Slytherin. Aunt Daphne was in Slytherin. My grandparents on both sides were in Slytherin. My great aunt Bellatrix was in Slytherin. Even my great aunt Andromeda was in Slytherin, and she married a Mudblood!" _And I'm tired of 'why'!_ Scorpius wanted to add, but he didn't say it out loud.

"Don't say that word," hissed Albus, his eyes darkening. They didn't seem to hold the light of the stars any more.

Scorpius gave a quiet, humourless laugh. "And why not, exactly, may I ask? Or is that prohibited too? Because it's the truth."

"It's a terrible thing to say." Albus's voice was low, and his eyes were downcast. "My aunt's Muggle-born. Rosie's mother."

"Oh, I'm sorry," replied Scorpius sarcastically, not caring less whether Albus was related to Mudbloods or not. It made sense that such a group of blood traitors would have a lot of mixed blood thrown into their family tree, in any case. _So she's a half blood,_ he thought disgustedly. _So _she_ can't talk about how bad _my _family is._

Albus ran a hand through his black hair, making it even more dishevelled. Now it wasn't only the back of his scruffy black hair that didn't lie completely flat.

He had evidently chosen to drop the subject of his Mudblood-strewn heritage, because his next words were, "Look. I was _terrified _that _I_ was going to end up in Slytherin. I was desperate to be in Gryffindor. And... here I am."

"Lucky you," Scorpius snarled, feeling his attitude change from sarcasm to irritation, and maybe... maybe a bit of jealousy. But why did he have to _gloat_ about getting in his preferred house?

Albus shook his head. "What I'm trying to say is... Maybe there's a reason you're in Gryffindor. Is there anyone in your family - anyone at all - who was in Gryffindor?"

Scorpius screwed up his eyes, trying to remember - not to mention it helped him hang on to his better frame of mind. _Also known as the one where I _don't_ fly off the handle..._ "Well... there was my grandmother's cousin - my first cousin once removed. Sirius... Black, I think it was? He was Sorted into Gryffindor, I heard." He wrinkled his nose in distaste. "We don't talk about him much."

"He was my father's godfather." Albus's voice was low, and his eyes were downcast again. "Sirius Black. Wait, maybe it's a coincidence, it might be a different one... No, scratch that one, my father said that he was the last Black before he passed away. My father told me a lot about him. Sirius was like a second father to him, he said..."

Scorpius blinked, an unusual display of emotion washing over him. Furious with himself, he rubbed his eyes rapidly on the duvet. Why was he getting tearful? _Stupid_, he told himself. _That's the complete opposite of what you should be feeling. You should be feeling like you want to patronize him, you idiot – where's your Malfoy blood gone?_

"James is named after him," Albus went on, hopefully oblivious to Scorpius mentally kicking himself. "James Sirius Potter. That's his full name."

"Really?"

"Well, you wouldn't care," Albus sniffed, his eyebrows locking together.

Scorpius's eyes narrowed, the sadness vanishing instantly. "Don't play the 'you'd-hate-this' card with me."

"I'm not." Was that the ghost of a grin on Albus's features? "You would _hate_ talking about Sirius, 'cause you're absolutely in love with Slytherin."

"Don't be ridiculous," snapped Scorpius. Albus's grief for Sirius Black seemed to have disappeared almost a little too quickly. Had it just been an act? A ploy to get Scorpius's guard down? _I wouldn't put it past him,_ Scorpius thought grimly.

"Just saying." Albus lay down on his bed so that Scorpius could no longer see his face. "Maybe you should act a little more like Sirius, then. Be a good little Gryffindor, Scorp."

Irritation washed over Scorpius. Like he was going to act like Sirius Black - the disgrace to his family. Scorpius had heard that it was even his own cousin - Scorpius's great aunt Bellatrix - who had killed him.

And it was amazing how he could practically hear the broad smirk in Albus's voice. "_Scorp_?"

"Uh huh. _You_ now have a nickname."

_Arrogant idiot... _fumed Scorpius broodingly, shutting his eyes tightly. Perhaps he wasn't as different from his brother as Scorpius had previously thought.

Sleep was, again, hardly an option - not that Scorpius wasn't prepared to try. And, if necessary, he was ready to fake sleep so that Albus wouldn't start talking to him again.

_The cocky little..._

Scorpius shook his head, which tousled his hair slightly on the pillow. However much he denied it, he knew what the first thing he was going to do at the weekend was.

Research Sirius Black.


	3. Rose Weasley and Lessons

Chapter III - Rose Weasley and Lessons

_'Extraordinary people survive in the most terrible circumstances and become more extraordinary because of it.'  
- Robertson Davies_

"Wingardium Leviosa." Scorpius lazily twirled his wand. The feather on his desk floated several inches off the desktop.

Albus's eyebrows furrowed as his green eyes followed the pattern of Scorpius's feather. "How do you do that? I mean, we only learnt that last lesson. Seriously," he turned to Rose, who was sitting beside him, "how does he do that?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "I've really no idea," she replied dryly, watching with a critical eye as Scorpius's feather caught fire and drifted back towards the desk. Black ashes landed in Scorpius's white-blonde hair, and he scowled.

"Don't worry," Albus assured him. "I couldn't do it if I tried. _Wing _Ardium Levi _oh _sah!" He brandished his wand fiercely. The feather gave a half hearted sort of flop.

Scorpius's scowl grew even more pronounced. He couldn't bear how thick-skulled Albus seemed to be. Scorpius was _not _his friend, no matter how much Albus insisted that they were 'buddies' after their 'bonding chat'.

_He absolutely _forced_ me to make conversation... No way in hell was it a 'bonding chat'... Who has 'bonding chats' at two o'clock in the morning anyway? Scratch that, why was he _awake_ at two o'clock in the morning?_

Brushing the charred remains of the feather out of his hair, he opted to maturely handle the situation.

By trying to ignore Albus. And deny the rumours... That bit was also important.

Rose gave a tiny, sudden smile and corrected Albus's grip. "It's Win_gar_dium Levi_o_sa," she said. "Make the _oh_ nice and long."

"Win_gar_dium Levi- thingy!" burst out Albus, whacking his wand on the desk in annoyance. Sparks flew out of the tip, and the black-haired boy quickly stopped.

Rose burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Albus.

"Just something that happened in my mother's first Charms lesson with my father, and... oh, never mind." Rose shook her head. "I used her line, that's all."

Albus shrugged, turning to Scorpius.

"So, what're you going to do after Charms?" he asked, abandoning the feather completely. One of the sparks had hit it, and it was beginning to smoke at the edges.

Resigned to the worst, Scorpius put out the feather - luckily, before it could go up in flames - with a sigh.

"Leave the classroom, Albus," he replied, avoiding Albus's gaze. After a week, the black-haired boy was really beginning to get on his nerves. "Obviously."

"Well, yeah." Albus seemed unperturbed by Scorpius's comment. "But this is our second-last Friday lesson!"

"I noticed."

"So... it's the weekend after the next lesson!"

"Well done." Scorpius sighed.

There was silence for a few moments.

"...What is our next lesson?" asked Albus sheepishly.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Hufflepuffs," supplied Rose helpfully. "With Professor Craft."

"Goody two-shoes," muttered Scorpius darkly, aiming his wand at the back of another boy's head. "Wingardium Leviosa."

His spell arched over his target's head and hit the wall behind him. Scorpius cursed under his breath. Either he needed to find another way to take out his frustration, or he had to work on his aim.

***

The Gryffindors - although Scorpius loathed being grouped as such - traipsed into the large, empty classroom. There was silence. Desks were laid out neatly.

Cautiously, Albus prodded a chair with his foot. Scorpius snorted as Albus called, "It didn't explode! I think we're safe!" and promptly sat down in it.

He waved to Scorpius, trying to catch his attention as the other first-years milled around, selecting seats. Scorpius deliberately ignored him and sat on the other side of the room, hoping that Albus was able to take a hint. Of course, knowing Albus, it would take much more to get rid of him, but... No time like the present to start prising him away.

Soon afterwards, the Hufflepuffs peered through the door.

"They won't bite, don't worry." Scorpius's snide voice rang out across the classroom. "Can't promise they won't irritate the living daylight out of you, though." He glanced at Albus at he spoke.

It was a tension breaker - there were a few light chuckles from the Hufflepuff students and they began to choose their seats, too.

A Hufflepuff boy with dirty blonde hair seated himself next to Scorpius.

"Hello." His blue-grey eyes seemed slightly far away as he turned his misty gaze on Scorpius.

"Hello," replied Scorpius politely, although feeling slightly unnerved. He wished that the boy would blink.

"I'm Lysander," the boy introduced himself. His tone held the same dreamy quality as his eyes. "Lysander Scamander."

"Well, I'm Scorpius Malfoy," said Scorpius.

"Mmm." Lysander leaned closer, and Scorpius drew back, a little scared. "We both have unusual names," Lysander whispered.

"Uh... huh?" answered Scorpius slowly, feeling rather unnerved. For the first time, he wished that he had sat next to Albus. But it was too late now - a sturdy-looking, black-robed young teacher had just bounced into the room on the balls of his feet.

"Right," the professor said, swinging around without any method of introduction. He rubbed his hands together. "I'm Professor Craft. Let's get cracking, shall we?"

Scorpius groaned inwardly. He could tell that this was going to be one of _those_ lessons - an overly cheerful teacher (_I mean, 'let's get cracking?'_ thought Scorpius disdainfully. _Honestly!_), most likely questions he couldn't answer... not to mention a slightly strange Hufflepuff boy sitting next to him.

Speaking of which, Lysander turned to Scorpius again. "Who're your parents?" he asked, out of the blue. "My parents are naturalists."

Scorpius's eyebrows furrowed as he remembered his parents, Draco and Arostia Malfoy. He still hadn't got around to telling them that he was in... _Gryffindor_... but he was planning to. This weekend. Scorpius gulped, imagining Draco's enraged expression when he received his son's owl.

"I think you'd know who my parents are," Scorpius muttered, avoiding Lysander's eyes. "Malfoy. My surname's Malfoy."

"Mmm-hmm," replied Lysander, clearly not paying much attention. "I'm not in the same house as my mother either. My twin is. He's smarterer."

"Wh-which house was your mother in?" Scorpius managed to ask.

"Ravenclaw. Just like Lorcan. But I was always more Hufflepuffy."

_Hufflepuffy. _Scorpius shook his head, turning his attention to Professor Craft. _May the Dark Lord have mercy on my soul._

"My name is," Professor Craft was saying, scribbling on the blackboard behind him and turning around with a dramatic finish, "Professor Craft."

He obviously expected a better reception - there was silence in the room, except for Lysander, who was tapping his fingers idly on the desk and humming quietly.

But this didn't seem to put him off. He gave a sheepish grin and started again.

"Alright, so, you know who I am," he said. "But what _I_ really want to know is who _you_ are. So, textbooks at the ready, please-" _How does this relate? _wondered Scorpius, "-and for this lesson, you won't be needing your wands, I'm afraid."

There was a collective groan, followed by a scraping of chairs, and a rustling as the students put away their wands and took out _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_. Scorpius sighed. It was going to be just endless questions, endless droning questions. He could tell.

"Today we will be starting a topic on vampires," said Professor Craft. There were some brightened faces - vampires were well known as an interesting subject. "Now, today we will be learning about methods of preventing vampire bites. While it is impossible to reverse vampirism, it is, in fact, possible to stop the victim becoming immediately contaminated by the bite." He paused and looked around. "Can anyone tell...?"

He broke off as Rose's hand shot into the air at once.

"Thinks she's so smart," muttered Scorpius in an undertone, stabbing his desk with his wand.

"Er, maybe you, Miss...?"

"Weasley, sir," said Rose. Then she launched into a rant, that Scorpius guessed was copied word-for-word from the textbook. "Evil sorcerers that have died may rise again to become vampires; extremely evil men - or women - who die while committing an evil act may also return as vampires. The most common and sure-fire method of becoming a vampire is to die from a vampire bite. The sanguinary bite of a vampire is its method of perpetuating its breed, and those rising from the dead to become vampires are subject to the will of the vampire that originally bit him or her," she finished, looking very pleased with herself.

"Erm..." Professor Craft looked stunned. He shook his head as though trying to clear it. "Excellent, Miss Weasley. Take ten points for Gryffindor."

Albus looked at Rose, his face shining with delight.

Scorpius couldn't get too excited about this. Gryffindor wasn't his preferred house - what did he care if it got points given to it, really? He didn't look up from moodily jabbing his desk with his wand.

"I think that Professor Craft is really very nice." Lysander's misty voice sounded from beside him. "Of course, Professor Longbottom is nice, too, but you're lucky to have such a nice Head of House."

Scorpius looked up. Of course - he had forgotten. The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was also Head of Gryffindor House.

So, not only was Scorpius to endure having to be in what was possibly the worst, happy-go-lucky, always-smiling house in the whole school - no, the whole _planet_ - but this overly-bright joker was also to be his Head of House.

"Great," Scorpius muttered. "Could this week possibly get any better?"

***

Scorpius sighed, his quill pausing for the fifteenth time on his piece of paper. Behind him, the fire had burned down to mere embers. Outside the window, the sky was black, and littered with stars.

Almost everyone had gone up to bed. Only Scorpius, and an annoyingly loyal Albus, remained in the common room.

"Why are you still here, Albus?" growled Scorpius, his quill hovering over his page.

"Because you're not done yet," explained Albus. "I can wait."

"It's gone midnight."

"I know." Albus's green eyes shone. "Mum and Dad would never have let me stay up this late at home."

Scorpius rolled his eyes and went back to his letter. It was taking longer than he had hoped - and he still hadn't started his Defence Against the Dark Arts essay on why a person doesn't always become a vampire even after they have been bitten.

_Dear Mother and Father,_

_I hope you are both well. I have arrived safely at Hogwarts, and I must say that the classes are most interesting. _

_My first week has been... okay, to put it lightly. Albus Potter is very irritating, as you would expect, with a most inflated ego. I expect Harry Potter was just the same when you were at this school, Father._

_Rose Weasley is also annoying - a goody-two-shoes, you could call her. She has obviously taken after her father in looks - the hair, the ungainly freckles. But she has taken after the Mudblood Granger in personality. She studies obsessively, I have seen her at it. But, of course, I'm not that far behind her in marks, and I'm sure I will catch up soon. No Weasley will beat a Malfoy, that's for certain._

_However, I'm being polite to them, like you asked. Such petty rivalry is foolish behaviour, and it will disprove my superior upbringing._

_You may be wondering why I know so much about Potter and Weasley. Well, to tell you the truth, a slight-_

That was where the letter stopped. Scorpius sighed again, tapping the eaglefeather quill against the small coffee table. What was he supposed to put next.

_Oh, hi, Dad. Just so you know, I've gone and broken the tradition. I'm a Gryffindor. Don't explode. Okay, bye!_

It sounded like something Albus would write.

Scorpius put his pen to the paper again. He scrawled down the word _malfunction_ quickly, and then scribbled down the rest of the letter, making his handwriting almost illegible. He knew that that wouldn't really stop his father from finding out about which house he was in, but...

_Well, to tell you the truth, a slight malfunction occurred during my Sorting. It seems that the Sorting Hat thinks that I do not have a pure-blood heart of cunning, and does not see me clad in robes of green and silver. The Sorting Hat prefers to recognise me as brave and strong, as a matter of fact. I do not agree with this view at all, and, of course, I am most angry._

_I shall see you both at Christmas. Stay well._

_Your son, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy_

Scorpius read it through. It sounded alright.

_Don't be stupid,_ he argued internally. _He's going to be absolutely _livid_._

"I'm irritating with an inflated ego?"

Scorpius jumped and glanced over his shoulder. Albus was peering over at Scorpius's letter.

"Go away," snapped Scorpius, snatching it away from Albus's prying eyes. His cheeks tinged pink.

_Why am I embarrassed? _Scorpius thought self-consciously. _I should hope that this gets him away from me. I _do_ wish that. _

"Well, it _is_ friendly insulations, right?" Albus finally responded cheerily. "Don't worry. I won't tell Rose. We're friends. My lips are sealed." He made a motion of zipping up his lips.

Scorpius would have happily banged his head on the table at that moment, but, for fear of being thought slightly insane, he decided not to.

"_Friends_?" Despite his exhausted state, Scorpius managed a smirk. "You don't know anything about me."

"'Course I do," he replied chirpily. "You're a first-year Gryffindor."

Scorpius gritted his teeth, the smirk fading. He didn't like being reminded of that fact. "That doesn't count," he said, through clenched teeth. "The whole school saw that."

"_And_ you're a pure-blood," continued Albus, oblivious.

"Neither does that. If the Malfoys aren't pure-blood, then I'm a Muggle."

But Albus steamrollered on. "And you're good at magic."

"None of these _count_, you've seen me in lessons."

"I do know you," insisted Albus. "I do."

Scorpius chose to ignore him.

"So, you're finished now?" said Albus in a lively tone, after about two seconds. Briefly, Scorpius wondered how Albus could possibly be so wakeful at this time of the night. He must have missed a few nights of sleep - having had that conversation with him - but the black-haired boy seemed as effervescent as ever.

"Yes. I'm going to bed." Scorpius heaved himself to his feet, the letter still crumpled in his hand. He wasn't willing to be dragged into a conversation which went in circles – which seemed to happen often when Albus talked to him.

Well, rather, when Albus talked _at_ him.

"I'm going to do the Defence Against the Dark Arts essay," Albus said. "'Night, Scorp."

Scorpius gritted his teeth. There it was, with the nickname_ again_. And why couldn't Albus have just done the damn essay _while_ Scorpius was writing his letter, instead of reading Scorpius's private stuff?

There was one thing for sure. Albus Potter was most certainly confusing.


	4. Sirius Black III and Letter Sending

Chapter IV - Sirius Black III and Letter Sending

_'To lose your animal friend is a pain almost indescribable...'  
- Alison Stormwolf_

Saturday morning found Scorpius picking his way carefully through the debris of small animal bones and half-eaten mice that littered the floor in the Owlery, with the rustling of disrupted wings and the clicking of many beaks loud in his ears.

His eyes searched around the many posts with owls of all variety sitting on them - tawny, screech, snowy, barn. Their amber eyes followed him as he tried to find his owl.

"Honestly, how many eagle owls can there _be_ in Hogwarts?" Scorpius muttered, craning his neck to try and pick out Snake. "You'd image that there wouldn't be that many, but no..."

At last, Scorpius found him - at the very back of the Owlery, looking like he almost wanted to blend in with the wall. As Scorpius approached the brown-flecked eagle owl, Snake gave a rather doleful hoot.

Scorpius put his hand up and stroked Snake's smooth, feathery back. "You're disappointed with me too, aren't you?" Scorpius whispered, his heart sinking. Even his owl didn't want anything to do with him.

Being disowned by an owl was pretty sad, Scorpius reflected.

He held out the rolled up scroll for Snake to take in his beak, which he did so, even if it was a more formal action than normal. Scorpius held out his arm, and Snake stepped onto it.

Scorpius walked to the window with Snake on his arm. Snake looked at him, and gave a muffled, sort of reassuring hoot.

It was like doing something exceedingly embarrassing, having everyone laugh at you, and then your best friend telling you, "I still like you. I just can't be seen hanging out with you in public anymore, that's all."

Scorpius watched his owl fly away with a sigh. The deed was done. In several hours, Malfoy Manor would be alive with Draco Malfoy's rage, with his storming. And no doubt he would call _his _father, Lucius Malfoy, to discuss the matter...

The pale boy shivered, though it wasn't all that cold in the Owlery. His grandfather could be terrifying - even more so since his wife, Grandma Cissy, had passed away. And Aunt Bella...

"Oh, Merlin," Scorpius muttered. Aunt Bella - well, his great-aunt, really - could be more frightening than Scorpius's grandfather sometimes. Being in Gryffindor was far more trouble than it was worth. Far, far more troublesome than simply embarrassment on his behalf.

Stares and whispers he could deal with. But the threat of his father's fury hung over Scorpius like a black cloud. And he was sure that the thunder was going to break soon enough.

Dreading his father's reply, Scorpius slipped out of the Owlery, feeling horribly as though the eyes of the owls in the Owlery were watching him.

***

_Sirius Black III (1959-1996) was a pure-blood wizard (see _pure-blood_), final living heir to the House of Black_ _(see_ The Black Family_). He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (see _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_) from 1971 to 1978. His whole family had been sorted into the Slytherin house (see _Slytherin_), but Black disagreed with what he called his family's 'blood purity mania' and was instead Sorted into the Gryffindor house (see _Gryffindor_)._

_By the time he started at Hogwarts, Black already hated most of his family, including his mother, Walburga Black, his father, Orion Black, and his younger brother, Regulus Arcturus Black. _

_He was the best friend of James Potter (see_ James Potter_), and consequently named the godfather of his son, Harry Potter (otherwise known as 'The Boy Who Lived' - see _Harry Potter_) - a decision disapproved of by many after Black's imprisonment in Azkaban (see _Azkaban_). He, Potter, and their two friends, Remus Lupin (see _Remus Lupin - Werewolf_) and Peter Pettigrew (see _Peter Pettigrew_) joined the Order of the Phoenix (see _Order_) to fight against Lord Voldemort (see _Lord Voldemort_) during the First Wizarding War. However, Pettigrew betrayed them, and Potter and his wife were killed._

_Black tracked Pettigrew down, suspecting him, and determined to kill him in vengeance. However, on a public Muggle (see _Muggle_) street near Godric's Hollow, home of the late Potters, Pettigrew created a huge explosion which killed twelve Muggles and enabled him to fake his own death. Black was arrested by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and sent to Azkaban without a trial, convicted of mass murder, where he would spend the next twelve years before his escape._

Scorpius skimmed down the page. There was some more information on Sirius Black's escape and death, but everyone who knew the story of Harry Potter knew that already, so Scorpius decided to skip past that part.

Straight after scribbling down a few words on how to stop someone becoming a vampire, Scorpius had made his way down to the library, and, true to his word, had looked up Sirius Black in one of the many library books.

The blonde-haired first-year stared at the page for a few moments. There was a picture of Sirius Black just after his escape from Azkaban - his shoulder-length black hair was matted, his grey eyes were sunken, his face was lined, and his clothes were torn and far too small for him. As Scorpius stared at the photo, it winked at him.

So this was the only other member of his family that had been Sorted into the Gryffindor house. The photograph didn't do much to improve Scorpius's opinion of the man, to be honest. He didn't look terribly... well-groomed. And, by the sounds of it, Sirius Black's circumstances had been completely different to Scorpius's - Sirius Black had _wanted _to be different, he had _wanted _to annoy his family, to stand out. On the other hand, Scorpius... Scorpius was obedient to his father's wills. He was proud to be a Malfoy, proud to have the Slytherin gene in his blood...

But, apparently, that wasn't the case. Apparently, his heart sang 'Gryffindor!'... Well, enough for the Sorting Hat to decide that he belonged there, anyway.

Scorpius turned the page. Before pages of dull-looking information about some famous wizard called Balfour Blane, who apparently had established the Committee on Experimental Charms, there was a family tree. It was in plain black and white text, but it was there, all the same.

Scorpius's heart jumped to his mouth.

Hand trembling, Scorpius lifted his finger and placed it on Sirius Black's name. He then moved it up to Sirius Black's mother, Walburga Black. Then, sideways from Walburga Black, his finger landed on her brother, Cygnus Black III. From here, he moved it onto Cygnus Black's daughter, Narcissa Malfoy.

Malfoy. Scorpius's heart lurched as he recognised his late grandmother's name. Nevertheless, he pressed on to her son, Draco Malfoy. A small line connected Draco Malfoy to Arostia Malfoy, and, down from there, letters in tiny print read 'Scorpius Malfoy'.

"My name's in a book," Scorpius whispered. He didn't know why this made him feel so strange. But there was a lump in his throat, now. His name - his name! - was in the same book, in the same _family tree _as Sirius Black - Animagus, Order of the Phoenix member, Azkaban escapee, but mostly... _mostly_...

Gryffindor.

Just like him.

***

Scorpius did not sleep well that night. ("Merlin, am I going to be able to sleep at all during my time here?" he muttered to himself.) His head was swimming with thoughts about Sirius Black. Was he, too, not expecting to be Sorted into Gryffindor? Scorpius didn't expect so. He was probably hoping that he _would _get into Gryffindor. Normally, Scorpius would have sneered at this notion, but he wasn't inclined to this time. Maybe it was because Sirius Black and himself were alike in their family... alone in Gryffindor...

_'By the time he started at Hogwarts, Black already hated most of his family.'_

The words from the book surfaced in Scorpius's mind. Scorpius didn't hate his family - Merlin, he _liked _being a pure-blood - and if he wasn't Sorted into Gryffindor because he was against his family's beliefs, then why was he?

Scorpius turned over in his bed, the springs underneath his mattress creaking. This was the one big question; why had the Sorting Hat put him in Gryffindor instead of in Slytherin? It made no sense in Scorpius's head.

Maybe the Sorting Hat had something against him, Scorpius thought. Maybe he had just put Scorpius in Gryffindor to completely mess up his life. What could he have possibly done to annoy a mouldy old piece of headwear?

Thinking of this concept, Scorpius almost smiled. It was a ludicrous idea. Irritating a hat... only Albus could possibly manage that.

And then there was the matter of Sirius Black being the godfather of The Boy Who Lived. Except he wasn't exactly a 'boy' now. In any case, Albus's father had been very close to his godfather - enough to name his very first son after him.

_James Sirius Potter... Merlin,_ thought Scorpius, feeling remotely dizzy. _That's too complicated even to _think_ about._

And then there was the incessant worry about what his family were going to think after receiving his owl. Scorpius had been kidding himself if he had ever thought that untidy writing and evasive methods of telling Draco the 'big news' would ever stop his father finding out. He was going to see Snake flying towards the Manor, be pleased for about two seconds... and then call up all his relatives to scream at them. Or, to put it in more simple terms, just about explode with rage.

Or perhaps he would just keep it secret. After all, who wanted everyone to know that their son was an utter disgrace to the family? Landing himself in Gryffindor... Scorpius wouldn't have been surprised if he had been blasted off the ancient family tree in Grimmauld Place - the one that Harry Potter, who owed the house through Sirius Black's will, had recently allowed the Malfoys back into.

Not that they dropped in for many friendly visits.

Scorpius could just see his father - and possibly grandfather - thrusting open the door with a loud bang. They would march up the corridor without so much as a 'hello' to the surprised occupants of the house. They would sweep into the drawing room, with its Black family tree tapestry covering one whole wall. His father would draw his hawthorn wand...

Scorpius shuddered just imagining it. He would join the ranks of The Blasted; his great-aunt Andromeda, who had married a Mudblood, Marius Black, the Squib, Phineas Black, who had supported Muggle rights... and of course, Sirius Black.

Thinking of Sirius Black made Scorpius - unwillingly - think of the Potters. Following this train of thought, Scorpius wondered where Albus had been all day. He hadn't strolled up to him to irritate him even once - a merciful thing, but the fact was that he still wasn't back yet, from goodness knew where. Scorpius knew that because Albus snored. Loudly.

In fact, Scorpius hadn't seen Albus since going up to bed after finishing the letter (he delicately avoided remembering what it was about, for fear of thinking of himself as having joined The Blasted) the previous night.

_Why am I worrying? _Scorpius thought to himself, half-irritated. _He's annoying. So annoying it's not even funny. I should be happy that he's cleared off for a while._

But still, it wasn't his angry father, joining the ranks of the disowned Blacks, or Sirius Black that Scorpius worried about most that night.

Damn that infectious personality.


	5. James Sirius Potter and the New Nickname

Chapter V - James Sirius Potter and The New Nickname

_'A nickname is the heaviest stone that the devil can throw at a man...'  
- William Hazlitt_

Weak, watery sunlight, which was streaming through his closed four-poster curtains, woke Scorpius up. He lay in bed for a few moments, gathering his thoughts before wondering, still half-asleep, what time it was. Judging by the pale, misty quality of the sunlight - not to mention the awful racket that the birds were making - Scorpius guessed - accurately - that it was just past dawn.

He drew open the curtains on his four-poster and stared at the bed next to his. He couldn't see Albus's silhouette lying in the bed. Nor could he hear his heavy snoring. All he could hear was the birds chirping enough to drive a person insane, as well as the deep, rhythmic breathing of the other three boys in his dormitory.

_Maybe he's just gone down to breakfast already,_ thought Scorpius, trying to reassure himself that there was nothing strange about Albus not turning up. He shook himself, trying to right his thoughts. _Anyway, why am I worrying? It's not like we're _friends _or anything..._

He was a Malfoy. A _Malfoy_, for Merlin's sake!

_Well, possibly not for long,_ Scorpius thought glumly, the image of his father blasting his name off the family tree returning to his mind. Quickly, he forced it away, shuddering. He was not going to let that image haunt him any more. _But if Snake is anywhere near as efficient as he is usually, my father will already know... _Scorpius shook his head. No, no, no, no, _no_. _No more dwelling on this._

He glanced around the dormitory. The other three boys in the room - Nathan Jitter, a blonde-haired, soft-spoken Welsh boy; Jack Fobins, a brown-haired boy who, for some strange reason, always wore some sort of hat; and Matthew Clayton, a small, thin-faced, studious boy - were all still fast asleep. The five of them, including Albus and himself, made up the dormitory.

Scorpius didn't really feel like getting up on some wild goose chase mission to try to find Albus so early in the morning, who was probably simply stuffing himself in the Great Hall anyway. That boy's appetite was unbelievable. Again, Scorpius didn't fancy getting up early on a Sunday morning to watch the Gryffindor first-year eat. He could do that any time.

And so, forgetting to worry, Scorpius drew his curtains again and shut his eyes. No point getting himself in a twist about it.

***

When Scorpius finally awoke again and emerged from the dormitory, it was quarter to nine. The common room was empty except for a few older students who had already eaten breakfast at an earlier hour. This time, Scorpius was fairly confident that Albus was simply eating, or had already got up and was doing... well, whatever Albus did on Sunday mornings.

A dark-haired boy was sitting on one of the squashy armchairs, a piece of paper covered with scribbles - which looked suspiciously like lazily-done homework - on the table in front of him. For a second, Scorpius was sure it was Albus, until the boy turned around at Scorpius's footsteps - and his eyes were hazel, not green. Scorpius realised that 'Albus' was bigger than he had remembered, too. Then he recognised that it was James, Albus's brother.

"Oh, hi, Slythindor!" James gave a cheery wave. Scorpius stiffened.

"What did you call me?"

"I called you a Slythindor." The sparkle in James Potter's eyes was as mischievous as it had been on the day of the Sorting, when he had teased his brother. "Didn't you know that it was your new nickname?"

The force of James's words slammed into Scorpius like a heavy weight. He stared at the third-year for a few moments. "I didn't, actually."

James shrugged. "Well, it is. It's a cool nickname. Well, kind of. I'd rather have a combination of 'Ravenclaw' and 'Gryffindor', 'cause, of course, I'm so smart. It'd be like 'Ravendor' or even 'Gryffinclaw'. Yeah, 'Gryffinclaw' would be cool. Like, as in, 'Make way for the smart-yet-brave Gryffinclaw!' But Rosie says I'm more like a Hufflepuff, so it'd be 'Huffledor' or 'Gryffinpuff' which sounds stupid, so-"

"_Rose_?" Scorpius's expression hardened. _She_ was the one responsible for this blow to his pride? His father would never forgive him as it was.

James nodded. "She made the name up. Everyone's using it now. You've been appointed the first ever Slythindor."

"I'm honoured," said Scorpius sarcastically, trying to keep his voice level.

_Oh, but she did _not_ do this... even she..._ Scorpius clenched his pale hands into fists. _That is out of line._

James stared at him. "You're not happy with it, are you?"

"How could you tell?" Scorpius's tone was frosty. "Slythindor, indeed... that's not even imaginative."

James smirked. "Whatever you say. Every else seems to have picked it up nicely."

Scorpius ignored him. "Where is she?"

"Ooh, is there going to be a shouting match?" asked James keenly. "Or, better, a duel? Not that first-years could do much against each other, mind you... I'd be happy to teach you a few spells, if you want to use them against her..."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "She's your cousin. Why would you want to support me?"

James shrugged. "She reads too much. And you don't seem to be a bad sort. You're in Gryffindor - can't be all that terrible, can you?"

He was completely dropping the tactical approach that he had displayed when Albus was insulting Slytherin, Scorpius noticed. But he was learning to block out the barbed comments about Slytherin - enough to stop him lashing out at James, at least.

"And, the only other one in your family to be Sorted as a Gryffindor didn't turn out half bad either," James went on. "And I have personal name-y connections to him." He nodded solemnly, but Scorpius could sense the humour underneath. He thought that he was _terribly_ funny, Scorpius could tell.

Scorpius made a non committal noise in the back of his throat. Sirius Black again. For some reason, he felt uncomfortable discussing him - he felt, foolishly, he knew, as though Sirius Black was... like an imaginary friend that he privately confided in before he went to sleep, or a secret diary that you spilled all your deepest, darkest fears into, something. It just felt oddly embarrassing talking about him - as though you'd been caught by the 'cool' group sucking your thumb. "Just tell me where she is."

Finally, James relented. "I believe that my dear, far too smart for her own good, hopefully about to get her comeuppance, cousin - who, by the way, disapproves of my practical jokes on every count - is near the Entrance Hall, in the grounds."

"Okay. Thanks," said Scorpius, turning on his heel. _At last!_

"No, wait!" James got to his feet. "If you two are going to do anything better than speak in a civilised manner towards one another, I want to be there to see it!"

"Joy," muttered Scorpius. It appeared that he had unwittingly gained a tag along 'friend'.

***

"How do you know she'll be in the grounds? Just a question." Scorpius suddenly felt a wave of suspicion hit him as he and James walked down a wide flight of stairs. Albus Potter's brother was a renowned practical joker after only his first two years at Hogwarts. "Are you having me on?"

James rolled his eyes. "Would I do that to you?" he asked, his palms spread wide, his eyes innocent.

Scorpius just gave him a look, his grey eyes scornful.

"Okay, don't answer that," replied James, giving a sheepish grin. "I swear I'm not lying, though. Look, this is what happened; I was coming back from breakfast and suddenly this _whirlwind_ hit me, asking if I'd seen Al. I told her I hadn't and she started gibbering in a worried kind of way, before 'going to look outside to find that _Slythindor_'!" James put his hands in the air and made air quotation marks around the last few words, making his voice sound high pitched and worried.

"Wait, wait." Scorpius frowned. "Weasley's looking for _me_?"

"That's what she said."

"Hmm." Scorpius stepped down onto another stair, pondering.

"Wait, don't step on-" James shouted, alarmed, before ending in a groan - Scorpius's leg had already sunk deep into the trick stair, trapping him there.

"Well." Scorpius gritted his teeth in annoyance as his leg stung, closing his eyes briefly. "This is not embarrassing in _any_ way."

"Hang on, I'll get you out," said James. He allowed himself a fleeting grin at the ridiculousness of Scorpius's predicament. "Got me the first time, too." He grabbed Scorpius by the shoulders and pulled him up roughly.

_Couldn't he have been a bit less forceful? _Scorpius thought irritably, wincing as his leg painfully detached itself from the trick stair.

Scorpius's leg was freed, but his mood was not improved.

"I know all the trick staircases and fake doors in the _Slytherin _side of the castle," muttered Scorpius grumpily. He stomped down a few more stairs, eyeing them suspiciously in case they were trick ones again. "My father told me all of them."

James shook his head, looking slightly sceptical.

"What?" Scorpius gazed at James curiously.

"Nothing." James waved away the query.

"_What_?" Scorpius demanded.

"Okay, fine..." James said, conceding defeat. "It's just - you keep going on about how Slytherin is _so _much better than Gryffindor, and about how you know _so _much about Slytherin, and how being in Gryffindor is _so_ terrible and humiliating, and then you get shocked and angry when people go and give you a nickname like 'Slythindor'. It doesn't make us Gryffindors feel great when you complain at us about how awful this house is, you know. I'm surprised Albus puts up with you, to be honest."

"You... I..." Scorpius spluttered, stopping at the foot of the staircase. "Do you _know_ how my father is going to take this? He will _actually_ disinherit me!"

James didn't look all that sympathetic. "So did Sirius's mum and dad. From what Dad's told me, Sirius didn't seem to really care."

"So, you're saying that I should hate my parents, too?" Scorpius stared in disbelief.

"No..." said James, hedging. "I'm saying that maybe it's time to stand up to your father. Just for once."

Scorpius gaped at him for a moment, before James grinned again.

"Wow, I've _never _said something that deep before." He gave a short laugh. "Mum'd be pleased. She always says that I'm too much like Uncle George."

He put his hands in his pockets and strolled off towards the grounds. Scorpius tried to gather his thoughts.

_This... He wants me to stand up to my father. He's insane._

James turned back to Scorpius with a slightly cocky look. "Are you coming, or what?"

It was at that moment when Scorpius remembered the reason for their trip to the grounds.

And that stupid nickname.

Not to mention the idiot known as Rose Weasley.


	6. Professor Neville Longbottom and a Fight

Chapter VI - Professor Neville Longbottom and the Fight

_'You show people what you're willing to fight for when you fight your friends.'  
- Hillary Clinton_

It was certainly not a particularly happy Scorpius Malfoy that marched down the length of the high ceilinged Entrance Hall, James hurrying along in his wake. Now that he had remembered the purpose of his trip, anger at Rose had driven all thoughts of standing up to his father out of his mind. Fuelled by the thought of finding Rose Weasley – and, if it wouldn't get him expelled, holding a wand at her throat until she apologised and begged at his feet to be forgiven – his stride had soon matched, then overtaken, James's.

He barely spared a glance for the four giant hourglasses in the Entrance Hall – each representing a Hogwarts house. Red rubies represented how many points Gryffindor house had earned so far, while shining green emeralds littered the bottom of the Slytherin hourglass. Sky blue sapphires were trapped in the hourglass that stood for Ravenclaw, and, in the hourglass in the far left corner of the Hall, a shower of yellow topaz stones fell, clattering as they hit the rest of the stones, as someone had obviously just earned some points for Hufflepuff.

But Scorpius hardly saw this. He only had eyes for the huge oaken doors that led to the wide expanse of the grounds. That day, they had been thrown wide to let in the warm, golden, autumn morning sunlight, as well as to catch a carefree breeze that played with the few leaves that had already started to fall. Some had been blown into the Entrance Hall. They crunched under Scorpius's purposeful stride.

Many students who had eaten already were outside by the lake, enjoying a game of Gobstones, or perhaps just watching the ripples of the lake as leaves gently fell onto it.

However, Scorpius had no time for such laziness. His shrewd, grey eyes roved the grounds. He took in two fourth-year Ravenclaws playfully trying to push each other into the lake; he saw a serious-faced Hufflepuff seventh-year doing his homework under the shade of a tall willow tree. He could also see Professor Longbottom, the round faced, slightly forgetful professor who taught Herbology coming out of the greenhouse. A beaming smile was plastered onto his face. Scorpius guessed that he liked the sunlight because his magical plants were able to grow better with it.

Most students liked Professor Longbottom because he didn't mind a bit of joking around in his lessons – in fact, he sometimes even joined in – and he often forgot to set them a lot, if any, homework. He had also fought – and survived – in the Second Wizarding War, which had gained him the pupils' respect.

"I can't see her." James's voice broke the surface of Scorpius's thoughts. Noticing Scorpius's lack of attention, the third-year followed the blonde haired first-year's gaze. "Do you think Professor Longbottom would know where she is?"

Scorpius was about to answer, no, why would a Herbology teacher know anything about where she was? But James snapped his fingers, a thought apparently suddenly striking him.

"That reminds me!" he said. "Mum keeps nagging me to give Professor Longbottom her _love_." He rolled his eyes, and Scorpius sensed a one sided conversation about to happen. "I mean, would _she_ have given the Herbology teacher 'love' when _she_ was at school here? I think not! I mean, I know that I _know_ him and everything, but, what, am I just supposed to waltz into Herbology and go, 'Hey, Prof. L. Mum and everyone at home give you their love.'"

Scorpius had opened his mouth to interrupt about five times during James's mini rant. However, it seemed that James would not be deterred, so he decided he didn't care what a 'profel' was, just blocked out his voice until it was a faint buzz in the background, and continued to search for Rose manually.

"...anyway, now seems as good a time as any to tell him what Mum said without embarrassing myself in front of everyone – well, except for you, and, well, no offence or anything, but you're not exactly Cool-y McCool-ster with everyone – well, _anyone_ – at the moment," James finished. "So, let's go!"

Scorpius tuned back in just in time to hear the last part. He raised an eyebrow. "Cool-y McCool-ster?" he quoted, raising his hands to make imaginary speech marks in the air.

James grinned. "I'm very mature, really!"

***

"Rose? Well, she's been here, James, certainly." Professor Longbottom nodded, sorting out some ugly, thick, slug-like plants into two rows. "In fact..." He turned to look at Scorpius, "I believe she was looking for _you_, Mr Malfoy. Near Professor Hagrid's."

"Thanks," Scorpius started to say, but James cut in.

"Mum told me..." he glanced around, most likely checking that no one he knew was within earshot. Then he leant nearer to Professor Longbottom to whisper, "Mum told me to give you her love, Nev- I mean, Professor Longbottom."

Professor Longbottom gave a light chuckle, a twinkle in his eye. "Don't worry, James. I won't tell any of your friends that you gave a teacher your mother's love."

"Really?" Relief flooded James's features. Then, quickly catching himself, he tried to regain his dignity. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, of course. Sure, and, you know, we'll be off now." He put his hands in his pockets and walked away in an aloof, don't-care sort of manner. Scorpius noticed that he casually rumpled his hair with one hand so that it looked even more windswept than usual. Scorpius rolled his eyes. _He loves himself._

"Go on, then."

Scorpius looked up at Professor Longbottom's voice. It didn't sound annoyed.

Professor Longbottom winked. "Go and save your damsel in distress."

Scorpius's eyes widened. _Oh, Merlin. He thinks we want to find each other because..._ He shuddered. _That is wrong. Just... _wrong_._

He swiftly blurted out, "Oh, it isn't like that, Professor," before dashing after James, his usually pale face burning with colour.

So, this was another thing to add to Scorpius's mental To Do list. Work out how to squash these ridiculous rumours.

***

"_You_!"

James and Scorpius were hardly out of sight of the greenhouses when a flying shape barrelled into Scorpius.

"_What did you do_?!" screamed the shape, wrestling a surprised Scorpius down and pinning him to the ground, holding his wrists. A second later, Scorpius recognised 'the shape' as an enraged Rose Weasley, her red-brown hair dishevelled, the silver hairslide discarded Merlin knew where. She was red with anger underneath her freckles.

"What are you talking about?" Scorpius spluttered, trying to wrench out of her grasp, but not wanting to voice how embarrassed he was that a girl – and a Weasley girl, no less – had managed to hold him down simply using physical strength.

Then again, he had never been noticeably strong, while he was growing up. Not terribly feeble, but just... not strong. Which was why his desperate struggling yielded no results.

"You've done something with Al, haven't you?" Rose growled.

James snickered.

"Shut up!" Scorpius hissed at him.

"Sorry." James grinned. "My mind's just fallen in the gutter, over here..."

"Oh, for goodness' sake," snapped Rose, jumping up and drawing her wand. "Petrificus Totalus."

James went rigid and fell backwards, not moving. Only his eyes were narrowed into slits, glaring up at Rose, all his former humour gone.

Scorpius got to his feet, dusting his robes off. He eyed Rose's thin wand, and then, on a whim, drew his own – he wasn't about to stand there, unarmed, while Rose faced him with a wand.

"Okay..." said Scorpius slowly, not taking his eyes off Rose's wand. "What do you want?"

"I want to know where Al is." Rose was practically snarling. She flicked her wand. "Or I'll hex you, I swear I will."

"And what makes you think _I_ know where he is?" asked Scorpius coolly.

"Because you think Al's annoying. You think he's arrogant. You think that I'm a know-it-all. And you have something against us, you _Slythindor_, I know it!"

A wave of suspicion crashed into Scorpius as he remembered hearing – no, _reading_ – those words before. "Have you been reading my letter?"

"Not as such." A smug look crossed Rose's face. "I came down soon after you went to bed. Al told me what you'd written."

"You..." Scorpius struggled with words. His anger was mounting.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," said Rose. She pointed her wand at Scorpius. "I want to know what you know about the whereabouts of my cousin, and I want to know now."

"For the last time, _I don't know_," said Scorpius, both exasperated and annoyed. This wasn't what he had come to discuss at all. "I haven't seen him since I went to bed on Friday night."

"Oh, come-" started Rose furiously, but then she looked down at James, seeming to remember him. His eyes weren't narrowed in annoyance any more; they kept darting between Scorpius at Rose. Rose nibbled her lip as she looked down at him. "Oh – sorry, James," she apologised guiltily. "Perhaps I'd better take the full Body Bind off you now."

She muttered the counter curse under her breath, wand pointed at him. James's limbs freed themselves.

"Thanks a lot, Rosie," grumbled James, sounding distinctly irritated, as he got to his feet. He rubbed his back. "This grass isn't as soft as it looks, you know. And just because my mind isn't innocently eleven any more does _not_ entitle you to hex me."

"I don't even _want_ to know," Scorpius said under his breath.

"Anyway," James went on, in an offhand tone, "I think I might actually know where my brother _might_ possibly be. But, if you don't want to know, or if you're going to curse me again-"

"No!" said Rose quickly. "Mum and Dad won't be happy with me if I lose him."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Aunt Hermione either," James muttered under his breath. "I have to feel sorry for Uncle Ron sometimes. Or admiring. Or both."

Rose burbled on, not hearing James's comment. "Mum said that Uncle Harry had a habit of running off recklessly when _he_ was our age..." Then she broke off. "Wait, why am I bothering to tell you all of this? Where is he?"

"No, no, keep on with your story," James grinned. "It's interesting."

"_Where is he_?" demanded Rose impatiently. It was probably because Rose's wand was still pointed at him that James finally stopped leaving her hanging. Scorpius had a feeling that he had been enjoying it.

"Well, Hagrid invited him around for tea on Friday, but, you know Al, he's not exactly... Well, you know, the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you get my drift. He probably forgot. And then, he probably went to say sorry... in the middle of the night... 'Cause, has anyone else noticed that he doesn't seem to need a lot of sleep?"

"Yeah," muttered Scorpius darkly, remembering the various times that Albus had kept him awake. "You're telling me, he doesn't."

"And then?" prompted Rose, ignoring Scorpius. "You're not telling me that he's been apologising to Hagrid for over a day..."

James shrugged. "Don't ask me. I just remember Dad telling Al that Hagrid had invited him over for tea 'next Friday'. Which is, you know, today. No invitation for me, though." James gave a large, fake sniff. Scorpius wondered how he could retain his sense of humour when his own brother had gone missing.

"Well, then, we still don't know where he is!" Rose's voice was alarmed. "We have to go to Hagrid's! As in, _now_!"

And, without waiting for a reply, she had hared off in the direction of Hagrid's hut, wand still in hand.

"She's way too overprotective," murmured James, shaking his head as he stared after his cousin. "Al's not stupid. He can look after himself."

Rose seemed to have forgotten him, but Scorpius wasn't about to let her get away with making up the stupid 'Slythindor' nickname for him that easily. He could already imagine students calling, _'Hey, Slythindor!'_ in the corridors. Whispering even more than they did already. Scorpius could even see it escalating to the teachers.

_"Mr Slythindor? Mr Slythindor! What do you mean, can I repeat the question? Five points from Gryffindor for pure and utter cheek, Mr Slythindor..."_

For the second time that day, Scorpius shuddered. He was sure that his imagination was far, far too overly active.

But he couldn't let the nickname get that far. So, it was with a heavy heart that he stowed his wand in his pocket and unwillingly followed Rose.


	7. Lorcan Scamander and Finding Out Stuff

Chapter VII - Lorcan Scamander and Finding Out Stuff

_'There are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared, and that is twins.'  
- Josh Billings_

"Hagrid? Hagrid!"

Scorpius caught sight of Rose just in time to see her banging loudly on the door to a small hut. She'd put her wand away, thankfully. Scorpius wrinkled his nose in distaste as he stared at the roughly cut wooden walls, and the roof, which was made of what looked like large twigs. Pumpkins sprawled out of a patch of earth from out the back, and, if Scorpius's eyes weren't deceiving him, a large pink umbrella leaned against the hut.

"Hagrid!" called Rose impatiently.

There came the feeble barking of what sounded like an elderly dog from inside.

"Fang?" James elbowed Rose aside and peered through one of the windows.

"Hey!" complained Rose crossly. James ignored her.

"He's not in," he reported. "Fang's there, though... his bowl's empty, too... looks like he hasn't eaten for days..."

"Let me see." Scorpius didn't know why, but he found himself peeping through the grimy, murky window, too. It was simple enough inside – just a bed, a table, a few cupboards – but a black furred boarhound, whose muzzle was streaked with grey, was battering his front paws on the door, whining pitifully.

James tried the door. "It's not locked," he shrugged, pulling it open. It gave an ominous creak. Almost at once, the large boarhound charged out and knocked James to the ground, covering the third-year in joyful licks. Obviously, age was no setback for this dog.

"_Down_, Fang," ordered James, though he was grinning. "_Down_."

Fang gave a rather croaky bark and sat down, tail wagging furiously.

Scorpius walked into the rather dirty hut and opened some of the cupboards, trying to avoid looking at the dead pheasants that hung from the roof, still clad in their feathers. On his third try, he found what he was looking for.

"Here's some food for him." Scorpius took down the tin of unopened dog food and pulled on the ring. Fang immediately shot back into the hut, staring at Scorpius with pleading eyes.

_Why on earth am I doing this?_ thought Scorpius, even as he tipped the chunks of meat into Fang's bowl. _I'm here with a Potter and a Weasley, feeding the dog of an _oaf_._

Fang plunged his muzzle into the bowl, tail wagging nineteen to the dozen.

"What are we going to _do_?" Rose was saying shrilly when Scorpius re-emerged with a well fed dog. She glared at James. "_You_ should be more worried! He's your brother!"

James shrugged, not looking too bothered. "No... I just know that Al isn't an idiot."

"When I get older, I'm never entrusting you with my children!" Rose turned away, her hands thrown up high. "You'd probably encourage them to spit on the sofa, or something!"

"_Spit_-"

"I know what I said!" Rose whirled around, looking harassed.

"Calm down. You're getting _way_ too worked up over this," James tried to reassure her.

Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"I think I might know where they are."

Scorpius turned to see a boy wearing the blue edged robes of Ravenclaw standing among the pumpkins. Scorpius studied him closely, feeling sure he recognised him. The small pair of rectangular glasses were unfamiliar, as were the grey eyes, but the Gryffindor boy was sure that he had seen those dirty blonde coloured locks of hair before, as well as the exact same shape of the nose and cheekbones...

"Lorcan Scamander?" Scorpius guessed.

Now the boy's grey eyes were guarded. "Yes," he replied. "How do you know my name?"

"I sit next to Lysander in Defence Against the Dark Arts," Scorpius explained. "He... told me about you. In a roundabout sort of way. My name's Scorpius Malfoy."

Lorcan looked apologetic. "Oh. I'm sorry if he... erm... scared you slightly. He takes after our mother in that way. They're both just a bit..." He twisted his left hand from side to side in a 'not sure' kind of action. Scorpius understood.

"Don't worry," he assured Lorcan. "It's fine."

Lorcan raised one finger, as though a thought had just occurred to him. "He didn't say 'Hufflepuffy' or 'Ravenclaw-y' to you, did he?" he asked anxiously.

Scorpius managed a smile. "Don't worry, I've heard worse." He glanced at James, the word 'Gryffinpuff' springing to mind.

"Never mind that," Rose interrupted, seemingly having listened to every word of the conversation. "My name is Rose Weasley. Do you know anything about the whereabouts of Albus or Hagrid? Or better, both?" She stared keenly at Lorcan, waiting for his answer, but Lorcan's gaze had drifted to James.

"You look like Harry Potter," he observed. "Except, your eyes are brown. And you don't wear glasses."

"Yeah..." James looked vaguely confused. "Yeah, I'm his son. James."

Lorcan shook his head violently, seeming to catch himself. "Sorry..." he groaned. "I do that sometimes... Living with Lysander is bad for my health..."

"Don't worry." Rose was trying to be patient – Scorpius could tell – but the little detours from their conversation were starting to rub her the wrong way. It was plain on her expression. "But, do you know where they are?"

"Oh, that!" Lorcan brightened. "Well, I was out here at one in the morning-" He broke off at their expressions. "What?" he said defensively. "It's my study time! There's no one out here at one... It's peaceful..."

James grinned. "Keep going."

"...Okay," Lorcan said, slightly shamefacedly. "Well I was out here... at one... and then I saw Hagrid and a black haired boy who looked like _you_," he motioned towards James, "walking towards... well, it _looked_ like they were going... Well, they might have been. It looked like they were heading in that general direction, but..." He trailed off limply, looking pleadingly from one pair of eyes to the next.

Rose looked like she would quite like to take Lorcan by the shoulders and shake him until he was rattled enough to blurt out where Albus and Hagrid were going. Before she could do so, Scorpius sidestepped in front of her to give his rather more mature outlook.

"Unless I'm thoroughly mistaken..." He glanced scornfully at Rose. "I believe that the Weasley girl wants you to continue. And I'd do it quickly," he added pointedly, his tone slightly hushed. "Weasley has quite a temper on her."

There was a plan concocting in his mind - the perfect way to give Rose Weasley the comeuppance she deserved, without involving the violence James had suggested.

Because, quite frankly, he had been brought up much better than them.

"The _what_?!" shrieked Rose. Scorpius looked up - the conversation had evidently continued without his knowledge.

"The... um... Forbidden Forest." Lorcan said the last part very quickly indeed, as though hearing it in a blur would make it less painful for her.

"Merlin." James blinked. "Dad warned me about Hagrid's weird thing for monsters, but I thought he'd restrict it to the damn Care of Magical Creatures lessons..."

"I can't _believe_ him." Rose's voice was shaking. "I mean, why would you take an eleven year old into the _Forbidden__ Forest_? Noting the 'forbidden' factor!"

"You're only a couple of months older than him," Scorpius pointed out insensitively, very glad that he had zoned in for long enough to absorb this piece of information in one of the times Albus had been babbling at him.

If looks could have killed, Scorpius would have been pushing up daisies, but Scorpius was proud of the fact that he didn't even flinch.

"You're not helping," Rose spat.

"If you wanted me to 'help'," said Scorpius, making invisible speech marks in the air around the last word, "maybe you should have thought twice about spreading around the nickname 'Slythindor'." He felt slightly bad that he was abandoning Albus to the mercy of the Forbidden Forest through fault of Rose's, but the emotion didn't show through his voice.

_Wait a second. _Scorpius tried to keep his face impassive, but it was difficult when he had just realised that he felt... _worried_... about a Potter.

"Wow." Lorcan look stunned - and a little disappointed. "I..."

"That's a bit..." James looked equally lost for words.

"Petty?" Rose's voice alone was sharp and biting. She stared at Scorpius with hate clearly etched onto her face. Scorpius gave a tiny smirk as, yet again, he reflected on how stupid it was that Professor Longbottom thought...

But it barely lasted a moment as Rose began to speak again.

"You get Sorted into Gryffindor, yet you're too _scared_ to set foot in the Forbidden Forest, I bet you. Choosing to save yourself above your friends... just like a _Slytherin_. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if the Sorting Hat's going a bit senile." Rose's brown eyes blazed as her words whipped into Scorpius like sharp, unyielding knives.

Scorpius would have dearly loved to start screaming at Rose, but he forced himself to keep his tone as even as she had. "Slytherins are brave, but not stupid," he retorted. "They don't consider it terribly noble to go charging off into the face of danger and getting themselves killed."

James's and Lorcan's eyes were darting from Rose to Scorpius as though they were watching a fierce duel.

"So, in short, you don't care what happens to your best friend?"

Scorpius realised that that was the second time she had mentioned that he had friends. He was... confused, if truth be known. And curious.

"Wait, wait, wait." Scorpius held up one hand. "_Best friend_? Where did that idea suddenly spring from?"

Rose gave him a look that told him it should have been obvious. "Everyone knows 'that idea'," she said slowly, as though Scorpius were mildly thick. "You don't notice a lot, do you? Albus has even written home to his parents, telling them... I think his words were; '_Hogwarts is great so far. I've got this best friend already - we're really close. His name's Scorpius Malfoy. Yes, he is Draco Malfoy's son. But, seriously, Dad, he can't be as bad as you said his father was, really._'"

"You memorised it." It wasn't a question, but Scorpius picked out the least important thing to dull the strange sense that he was getting... "How _sad_."

"Don't be jealous of my memory," said Rose, her tone superior.

_Don't say anything,_ thought Scorpius, trying to steady his trembling hands. He desperately wanted to snatch his wand and curse Rose until she was a tiny, flickering flame that he could blow out - if only he had the magical knowlege of how to. _Don't rise to the bait..._

He turned stiffly, face even whiter than usual, and walked rigidly away, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

_Friends... he thinks were's _friends_..._

But what scared Scorpius the most about this innocent statement wasn't the fact that no Malfoy could ever happily be friends with a Potter.

It was the fact that he agreed with it.

But it would _ruin _his pride if he went back and admitted it...

To distract himself, he focused his thoughts back on Rose.

_I think I handled it very maturely_, he congratulated himself. _That felt good._

He allowed himself a glance back at Lorcan, Rose, and James. Rose's back was to Scorpius - they were obviously discussing how best to rescue Albus.

The chance was just far too irresistable. Scorpius couldn't stop himself - he drew out his wand and pointed it surruptitiously at Rose's back.

"_Locomotor Mortis_," he muttered. A spark flew out of his wandtip.

Scorpisu turned away, allowing himself a small smile as he heard a cry of rage from Rose, followed by a dull thud as she toppled to the ground.

James swore appreciatively.

"Finally!" Scorpius heard James say. "A bit more action after all that talk-y stuff!" There was a short pause, before; "Leg locker curse! Absolute _classic_!"

Scorpius's grin grew wider.

_Okay, _he admitted. _That felt better._


	8. Draco Malfoy and the Howler

Chapter VIII - Draco Malfoy and the Howler

_'Always write angry letters to your enemies. Never send them.'  
- James Fallows_

Scorpius stared out of the dormitory window, leaning on the windowsill. The sun was high in the sky, and Scorpius hadn't yet eaten breakfast, but he didn't feel hungry.

No one else was in his dormitory. They were all outside, enjoying the late autumn sunshine. Thinking that he might as well make use of the peace while it lasted, he pushed open the window halfway, to change the cool, fresh air outside with the stuffy, warm air inside. A light gust of air blew onto Scorpius's face.

Wondering what he should do, Scorpius's gaze travelled around the room and lingered on his schoolbag. He had a Charms essay to do; _Magic and Muggles - Do They Mix?_ It was a rather pointless essay in Scorpius's opinion - shouldn't that sort of thing be saved for third-year Muggle Studies? But, really, what else did Scorpius have to do?

_Go and help find your friend,_ the annoying, controversial voice in his head nagged.

_For the last time... His personality is infectious,_ Scorpius argued. _It's just... one can't _help_ liking him slightly... And... and..._

Scorpius grabbed his schoolbag from under his bed with a little more force than necessary. Rummaging inside for a quill and parchment, he lay down on the floor on his stomach (he couldn't be bothered to go down to the common room, and he liked the silence up here more than he cared to admit) and started his homework.

But it was much harder to concentrate than he had thought - he caught himself staring into space more than once, and he kept putting down things like magical Muggles were in danger of being exposed by the parents of wizard-borns, instead of the other way around. Soon, the parchment was furry with the amount of times that Scorpius had scratched out words that he hadn't meant to write.

Finally, Scorpius screwed up the piece of parchment and threw it at Nathan Jitter's pinned up poster of the Welsh flag next to Nathan's bed. Predictably, Nathan was later going to wonder why there was half a Charms essay left on his bed, but Scorpius couldn't find the energy to get up and pick it up.

At that moment, a tapping on the window caught his attention. Scorpius turned around onto his back and pushed himself up so that he was leaning on his elbows.

"Snake?" The sight of his own eagle owl attempting to break in to the dormitory's half open window with his strong wings made Scorpius sit up properly. "Hold on, I'll let you-" He stopped, eyes widening, as he saw the red-enveloped letter in Snake's beak. "Oh no," he half whispered.

Snake finally opened the window enough for him to sidestep in, albeit awkwardly. He deposited the red letter at Scorpius's feet, feathers looking slightly ruffled. Snake gave Scorpius's hand an affectionate nip and a deep hoot, before squeezing out the open window again and predictably returning to the Owlery.

Scorpius was torn. He stared at the red letter. How could have he not have seen this coming? Of all the things he had imagined...

The letter had begun to smoke at the corners now. Swiftly, Scorpius darted forward and picked it up. Holding it in front of him as though holding a ticking bomb, he screwed up his eyes and ripped it open.

Draco Malfoy's voice burst out of the letter - cold, hard, and magically magnified. Scorpius stuffed his fingers in his ears and dropped the Howler.

"..._Ravenclaw, I would have accepted, Hufflepuff, I would have been angry at, but Gryffindor? I don't suppose you know what your mother and I went through when we recieved your letter..._"

But the voice was still filtering through. Far from being scared as his father's rage broke over him, Scorpius felt himself growing steadily angrier. His father was speaking as though Scorpius could have prevented the Sorting Hat's choice. Well, it wasn't his fault, was it? The Sorting Hat hadn't opted to give any kind of warning, had just shouted out Scorpius's new house... the _wrong _house...

"_...have do do a lot to make up for this, Scorpius Hyperion. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Do you know what this has done to your grandfather? Do you know how he took the news? It terrified the whole family, Scorpius Hyperion, when he just fell in a faint... at first we thought it was just a faint, but according to St Mungo's, it's something more. They're not sure what yet, but he might not get better, Scorpius Hyperion. And if he doesn't... Don't expect an inheritance._"

The voice died away into nothing, and the letter curled into ashes on the floor. Scorpius cautiously took his fingers out of his ears. There were scorch marks all over the floor.

His heart was thudding. On one hand, he was furious with his father. How could he have expected Scorpius to stop the Sorting Hat's desicion? It wasn't like he had been seeing it coming... _No_ one had seen it coming.

Least of all Scorpius's grandfather. Guilt curled in Scorpius's stomach as he thought of what he had done to him. Lucius Malfoy may have been terrifying, but he was still his grandfather, his flesh and blood _kin_, and if he _really_ didn't make it...

"If St Mungo's doesn't know what it is yet..." he muttered, the little blood in his face draining out of it. "Oh, Merlin, I'm _never_ going to forgive myself."

He needed to be doing something. Something that involved a lot of action. Something that would make him forget... and possibly threaten his life.

_Screw my father's opinion,_ thought Scorpius angrily, staring at the unmovable black marks on the floor, burnt there as a constant memory of the Howler. _He's going to hate me as it is. And, for that matter, screw my damn pride._

And, knowing that he would regret it later when Albus was chattering away to him like an irritating shadow, Scorpius kicked his schoolbag under his bed, grabbed his wand from on top of his bedclothes, and left the dormitory.

To follow Rose, James, and Lorcan.

***

Scorpius knew that he wouldn't get out of the common room without being seen by someone who had heard the Howler - not that he wasn't prepared to try.

As quietly as he could manage, he closed the heavy wooden dormitory door and crept down the stairs. However, as predicted, halfway across the crowded common room, he was hailed by Jack Fobins, who, today, was wearing a black cap.

"Hey, Slythindor! Was it you who got that Howler?"

His expression was halfway between a smile and a smirk. Scorpius was not impressed.

"I'm not going to answer to that nickname," he said calmly, though he was close to trembling with anger. "It is not applicable."

Now Jack was definately smirking.

"Guess your dad's not too happy 'bout it all, eh?" the brown-haired boy said slyly, not looking Scorpius in the eye. "I mean, his only son's ended up in Gryffind-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. Scorpius had already whipped out his wand from his pocket.

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" he yelled, venting all his anger and frustration into the two words until his throat felt raw. Just like James had done under Rose's spell, Jack toppled over backwards, unable to move.

The usually rowdy common room was silent. They were all staring at Scorpius, who was standing over Jack, wand still pointed at him, breathing fast.

"Oh!"

The beautiful seventh year prefect who had led Scorpius to his room on the first day hurried forward, her waist length, silvery blonde hair fanning out behind her as if it was spun from silk. She looked down at Jack, and then turned to Scorpius.

"You cursed him," she said. "You attacked him."

Scorpius lowered his wand. "He was provoking me," he muttered sullenly.

"It doesn't matter," the seventh year girl said. "You do not attack the friends. The enemy, you attack. The friends, you leave be."

"'The friends'," quoted Scorpius, "should not make fun of me and my family in the first place."

"I descend from the French," the girl replied. "I even descend from the Veela. Do I make complaints about my heritage? No, I do not. And neither should you."

"Who are you, then?" Scorpius had heard about the Veela - beautiful, semi-human creatures who shapeshift into ugly, bird like creatures when they become angry. He hadn't known, however, that it was possible to find humans who descended from the Veela - although, that would explain the girl's breathtaking beauty, Scorpius pondered.

"My name is Victoire Weasley." The prefect's tone was dignified. "My father is William Weasley, and my mother is Fleur Weasley, who is a quarter Veela. My mother is also French. I do not attack those who do not see my different blood as an advantage, or as a trait to be proud of - I consider myself above them."

Scorpius blinked. _Weasley? How many damn relatives does Albus have, for Merlin's sake? _But, then again, he had never thought of his Slytherin heritage that way. Maybe she was right... maybe...

"Now, go." Victoire pointed to the round portrait hole. "Were you not going somewhere?"

Scorpius quickly caught himself, stuffing his wand back in his pocket. He was, admittedly, beginning to feel rather uncomfortable with all the stares from the watching Gryffindors, which were all focused directly on him. Face unusually hot, Scorpius took Victoire's advice and left.

However, he had barely clambered out of the portrait of the Fat Lady when a quiet voice addressed him.

"Hello again, Scorpius Malfoy."

Scorpius jumped - he had not seen Lysander when he had climbed out of the portrait hole. "Hi," he said cautiously, staring at Lysander watchfully. "Erm... I met your brother."

"Oh, that one," said Lysander pleasantly, his pale blue eyes misty. "You mean Lorcan? Yes. How is he enjoying Ravenclaw?"

"I think he likes it." Scorpius's tone was still careful - Lysander could do some odd things, he had noticed. "But... why are you here?"

"I heard the Howler," answered Lysander.

"You-"

"Yes." Lysander gave one nod. "I knew it was for you, because I kept hearing it say 'Scorpius Hyperion'."

Scorpius winced. The memory of the Howler was far too fresh in his mind. He changed the subject. "How did you know where Gryffindor Tower was? It's supposed to be a secret," he said, trying to inject a stern tone into his voice.

But it seemed that you couldn't be stern when dealing with Lysander Scamander. "Oh, I used my ears," he said. "My ears are very well trained. I have to remember to listen for Wrackspurts, you know."

"Wrackspurts?" Scorpius was puzzled.

"They're invisible. They float inside your ears and make your brain go fuzzy. You have to listen out for them, you know." He gave a knowing nod.

Scorpius had a vague feeling that these 'Rakperts' or whatever they were called were a figment of Lysander's imagination. But he decided not to press the subject. "Right... Well, I have to go, you know."

"Where are you going?" asked Lysander. "Running away?" he added.

"Oh, no, no," Scorpius assured him. "I... I have to..." Despite throwing away his pride earlier, Scorpius couldn't bring himself to say what he was really doing out loud.

He wondered why this was.

"I..." He broke off in the middle of the sentence. Lysander stared at him for a few moments. But then;

"Aha!"

"What?" Scorpius's train of thought shifted - now he was simply wondering why Lysander appeared to be trying to swat something that wasn't actually there.

There was a triumphant grin on Lysander's face. "That's why you have to watch out for Wrackspurts."


	9. Lysander Scamander and the Dark Forest

Chapter IX - Lysander Scamander and the Forbidden Forest

_'You can't always sit in your corner of the forest and wait for people to come to you... you have to go to them sometimes.'  
- Winnie The Pooh_

_Okay, I'm going to the Forbidden Forest._ Scorpius rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, staring into the dark gloom of the trees. _For Albus. Just step in there... and don't worry about the werewolves. Oh, Merlin, werewolves! Why did I tell myself that I was going to do this?_

He shook his head.

_Come on, you're doing this for Albus. My friend. Oh, for the love of... half an hour ago Albus was an annoying idiot, in my book. And now I'm going _into the Forbidden Forest_ for him. How ridiculous is that? Albus, if neither of us die, you're going to owe me so much for this._

"So, why're you just standing there?"

Scorpius jumped as, yet again, Lysander was suddenly at his side. Scorpius thought that he had given him the slip when he had been attempting to squash something that didn't exist, but obviously he had been followed by Lysander.

_I seem to have an ungainly habit of picking up unwanted people that like to tail me._

"Would you stop doing that?" he said tersely. He wasn't in the mood for irritating interruptions. "I'm steeling myself to do something difficult, here."

"You don't have to be scared of it, you know," said Lysander, his demeanor as distant as usual. However, something in his voice struck deeper. "There's nothing to be afraid of in_ there_," he nodded towards the Forbidden Forest, "that won't hurt you out here."

"Really?" Scorpius turned to Lysander, hoping that he was about to offer some helpful advice, for once.

"Of course," replied Lysander, his eyes on the trees. "Like that Wrackspurt that caught you. It's just as much in there as it is out here."

It didn't occur to Scorpius to tell Lysander that Wrackspurts were most likely non existent. Instead, he just wondered how one person could have so much nonsense to talk about.

"I'll come with you," Lysander offered. "I'm an experienced Umgubular Slashkilter hunter. And I also know how to spot a Crumple-Horned Snorkack and a Blibbering Humdinger, so you can rely on me." He patted Scorpius's arm in a reassuring way. "There's nothing else in there you need to really worry about."

_An Ungubby what...? And what the hell is a Blabbering Himdugger? _Scorpius didn't have a clue what Lysander was going on about. He was also quite concerned about his statement that 'there's nothing in there you need to worry about'. What about the werewolves? And the trolls that were rumoured to reside there, too? What about them? But there was no time to be indecisive - Lysander was physically dragging Scorpius into the Forbidden Forest by his sleeve, his grasp surprisingly strong.

Scorpius couldn't suppress a small, undignified squeak of fear as his feet unwillingly crossed the border into the Forbidden Forest. Lysander half dragged him along until the school disappeared, the thick trunked trees clumping around it, hiding the castle from view.

Finally, Lysander let go of Scorpius's sleeve. "So," he said cheerfully, as though he were on a mildly interesting day trip, "now where?"

Scorpius pondered this question. Rose, James, and Lorcan had been absent from Hagrid's hut when he had arrived there, as was Fang, whom they had presumably taken with them. He was a little worried about this – the dog looked far too old to be frolicking around a werewolf infested forest. And the forest was vast - there was little hope of meeting up with them.

_No one would know that it was early afternoon,_ thought Scorpius, gazing up at the sky overhead, which was blocked out with a tangle of thorny branches. It made Scorpius feel just a little claustrophobic.

"Well, for a start, let's have our wands at the ready," said Scorpius nervously, glancing around him to see if Lysander had listened to this statement and understood it, though it was hard in the half gloom. Thankfully, Scorpius could see enough of Lysander's face to see that he had comprehended Scorpius's command, and was now holding his wand.

"Do you know the '_lumos_' spell yet?" asked Lysander. "Maybe it would help us to see a bit better."

"Oh - yeah, we learnt that in Transfiguration, for some reason," said Scorpius, giving a nervous laugh. "I'm sure it's a Charms spell... I'm not very good at it, though... _lumos_." The tip of his wand glowed briefly, flickered, and then went out.

"Try like this," encouraged Lysander. He gave his wand a sharp flick. Scorpius still had no idea how he could be so fearless. "_Lumos_." A beam of light began to shine on the end of Lysander's wand.

"If you say so." Scorpius had to admit, the pool of light that Lysander was casting on the ground was making him feel a bit better. He flicked his wand just like Lysander had done. "_Lumos_."

This time, his wand stayed alight. Scorpius's wandlight joined Lysander's on the ground. Now that Scorpius could see where he was putting his feet, he felt reassured.

_Thank Merlin for lumos!_

***

"Okay, right," said Scorpius, scanning the area with his wand. He felt a lot more confident than he had earlier, now that he had the pools of yellow light that he was able to see with. He had no idea of the time, though - he had never even considered buying a watch in his youth. He was certainly regretting that now. "What-"

"_Duck_!" yelled Lysander, alarm flaring in his eyes. Taking Scorpius completely by surprise, Lysander tackled Scorpius, grabbing him by the middle, and the pair rolled into a nearby bush. Scorpius's wand clattered to the ground.

"Hey!" Scorpius was not pleased - there were twigs and leaves in his hair, and a branch had caught his cheek as he fell, leaving a ragged cut. Scorpius put his hand to his cheek. It stung - it was bleeding. "What was that for?" he asked indignantly.

"Sorry," apologised Lysander. His voice was a mere whisper. "I heard something." He turned around and peered out of the branches. Wishing that he was older and knew a spell for healing wounds, Scorpius did the same.

"What did you hear?" he asked. Then he noticed the small circle of light that his wand was casting. "Hey - that's my wand out there!" He made as though to go and get it, but Lysander threw out a hand to stop him. It caught Scorpius in the stomach.

"No!" Lysander hissed. "It's too dangerous! I think that there's a Heliopath out there..."

Scorpius snorted. This was obviously one of Lysander's ridiculous creatures again. "Look, there may be a Heely Plar out there, but I think I can-"

"Heliopath!" whispered Lysander fiercely. "They're very dangerous! They're spirits of fire which gallop around and burn everything in their path! You could burn to death, their bodies are so hot!"

"Then I'll just use the _Aguamenti_ spell on it!" hissed Scorpius, getting impatient. "I'll be fine!"

"You know the _Aguamenti _spell?" asked Lysander, surprised.

"Not my fault if my dad wanted me to be top of the year," muttered Scorpius, vaguely embarrassed. "He taught me lots of spells you learn in the first year."

"Oh." Lysander seemed to realise that this was a delicate topic, because he went back to the Heely Plar or whatever it was called. "Anyway, I don't think spells work on Heliopaths! My mother told me that when Cornelius Fudge was Minister for Magic he had a whole _army_ of Heliopaths! Kingsley Shacklebolt got rid of them, which was a relief, but now they're obviously running amok!"

"For Merlin's sake, they don't exist!" Scorpius exploded. "I'm going out there. I can't hear any-"

"_Locomotor Mortis_," said Lysander. Scorpius's legs locked together.

"What are you doing?" hissed Scorpius in annoyance, trying to drag himself to an acceptable position. "What was that for?"

"I can't let you hurt yourself out there," said Lysander mournfully. "I'm sorry, Scorpius."

"You-" started Scorpius furiously, but Lysander slapped a hand over his mouth, shaking his head.

"It's out there!" he breathed, eyes wide.

Scorpius debated biting Lysander's hand, but decided that that would be disgusting. Instead, he just settled for moodily lying on his stomach, legs clamped together, picking leaves out of his hair.

Lysander gasped. Scorpius peered through the leaves. He would have gasped, too, but Lysander's hand was still over his mouth.

It looked like a horse - but it wasn't. It definately wasn't. It was black, and its mane was made of _fire_. Its tail was also made of flame, and as it cantered among the trees, small embers trailed off its hooves, leaving charred, ashen hoof prints behind it. They were... _scorch _marks.

"They... my mother was right!" Lysander half whispered.

His hand went limp on Scorpius's mouth, and Scorpius was able to shake it off. "You didn't believe that they existed?" he questioned in a low voice, lest the Heliopath hear him.

"Well... of course I did, but..." Lysander made a slightly pathetic flapping motion with his hands. "I've never seen one before..." He cast his eyes back to the Heliopath. Scorpius did the same.

"Why isn't it burning up the forest?" whispered Scorpius. "You said that it would."

"Maybe it only does when it's angry," suggested Lysander. "Or when it's galloping."

Scorpius shrugged. The Heliopath was now staring at something on the ground. The something was emitting a faint glow of light. The Heliopath cocked its head in confusion. It pawed at the thing with its hoof. But...

"No!" moaned Scorpius, struggling to unlock his legs.

_Crack_.

The snap echoed throughout the forest as the Heliopath stepped on the thin bit of wood. The small circle of light disappeared, rendering everything but the glowing light that the Heliopath was emitting in black darkness.

"My wand!" groaned Scorpius in an agonised tone.

The Heliopath gave a scared snicker. It obviously didn't know what it had just stepped on.

"Give me that," snarled Scorpius, snatching Lysander's wand. It felt strange in his hand, but there was no other choice. He mumbled the counter curse, and his legs sprang apart.

Then, still holding Lysander's wand, Scorpius jumped up and pointed the wand at the Heliopath.

"I'm going to kill you, you foul brute," Scorpius growled. "Even if I don't know how, I'm going to anyway."

Strangely, the Heliopath seemed to understand. It took a couple of tentative steps backwards, its dark eyes fixed on Lysander's wand.

"Scorpius, don't!" cried Lysander, hurtling out of the bush. He stared at the Heliopath, and then turned to Scorpius. "Don't you understand? It's afraid! It didn't mean to!"

Scorpius didn't lower Lysander's wand. "It still _did_. That was my _wand_, Scamander. My _wand_."

Without it, he felt horribly open, unprotected against the terrors in the Forbidden Forest...

But now Lysander was stepping in front of Scorpius, his hand held out coaxingly.

"I thought you said they were dangerous!" Scorpius said.

"Can't you _see_?" Lysander glanced at Scorpius. "It's afraid. It doesn't know where it is or what it should be doing... and Scorpius, I've just realised something."

"What?" Scorpius still had Lysander's wand pointed at the Heliopath.

"It's actually kind of like you."

Scorpius gaped at Lysander as he stroked the Heliopath's back, avoiding the fiery mane.

Being compared to a mythical creature. One that no one thought existed.

Well, no one could say it hadn't been an interesting first weekend.


	10. Blazing Ember and the Broken Wand

Chapter X - Blazing Ember and the Broken Wand

_'It just looks like his spirit is gone. The fire is not there.'  
- Nate McMillan_

"This is _actually_ insane."

"Oh, don't be such a spoilsport," replied Lysander cheerfully, his hair whipping back in the breeze. "It's so much fun! And we'll be able to search so much faster this way."

Lysander had succeeded in allowing the Heliopath to let him on his back. Scorpius had picked up the two halves of his wand and put them in his pocket, feeling a strange grief welling up inside him as he did so. And then Lysander had invited him up onto the Heliopath's back.

At first he had blankly refused. No way, he had said, was anything in the world going to get him onto a fire horse - and one that hated him, at that. Although, technically, that _was_ his fault - he had pointed the wand at the Heliopath. Eventually, though, Lysander had pulled him up onto the Heliopath's back. The Heliopath had given a snort of annoyance, but had not made any further objection. And now, they were racing through the forest at breakneck speed.

Well, it was a warm way of travel, at least.

"I think they're actually very docile creatures," yelled Lysander over the whistling of the wind. "Cornelius Fudge just put them to awful use. Poor creatures." He patted the Heliopath's flank reassuringly.

"How are you controlling this thing?" Scorpius shouted back, trying not to look at the debris of the forest floor that was flying past them at a far to fast speed.

"Well, I just whispered to it where I wanted to go," replied Lysander in a loud voice. "I told it 'find a black haired boy', and I'm assuming it's obeying." He glanced nervously at the Heliopath. "I _hope_ it's obeying."

"Oh, great," shouted Scorpius, his voice thick with sarcasm. "That's just _so_ reassuring!" Then a thought occured to him. "Wait... how did you know we were looking for Albus?"

"It was pretty obvious!" Lysander shouted back. "Who else would you be looking for?"

Scorpius flushed and looked away.

_What a stupid way to die!_ he thought to himself, trying to change his thoughts. _Killed by a creature that isn't meant to exist. Wouldn't be surprised if it was taking us to its lair for an afternoon snack, to be honest._

He took the broken wand pieces out of his pocket, holding onto them tightly so he didn't drop them. He and Lysander were bumping around a lot while on the Heliopath.

Scorpius sighed. It was his wand._ His wand. _Eleven inches, dragon heartstring core, made of elder.

And broken before the first week was out.

_Wand of elder, never prosper._

Arostia Malfoy's words rung in Scorpius's ears. At the time, he had just waved it off as one of those old witches' tales that never make sense and never come true.

But now, maybe they were true. His stupid wand had been snapped by a damn _non existent creature_ on his first weekend. Surely that was no coincidence?

_Okay, note to self... Never get an elder wand again._

***

The Heliopath had, thankfully, slowed to a trot.

"You know, we should so name this Heliopath," said Lysander, as if it was an afterthought to a conversation they had just been having. "If it's going to be around for a while-"

"Wait, wait, _stop_," interrupted Scorpius. "_No_. We are not _naming _a creature that everyone thinks is non existent."

Lysander steamrollered on, oblivious. "How about... Blazing Ember?" he said. His tone was still vaguely dreamy.

"Wow, just about as clichéd as you could possibly ever get..." muttered Scorpius.

"Well, you can think what you want to, Scorpius Malfoy, but I'm naming this Heliopath," said Lysander seriously. "It's misunderstood, don't you see? It deserves the name Blazing Ember."

Although it was still trotting along, the newly named Blazing Ember gave a small whinny.

"See?" said Lysander, pleased. "He likes it."

"Great," muttered Scorpius. "We've got a - named, don't forget - spirit of fi-" He was cut off as the Heliopath kicked out with its back legs. Lysander and Scorpius flew over its head and landed with a thud on the leaf-strewn ground.

"Ouch!" exclaimed Scorpius. "That _damn_ thing is going to kill me, I swear. First it destroys my wand, now..." He glanced down at himself, "now it chars my robes..." It was true - the right shoulder of his robes were singed and burned. "And I only just got all the dead leaves out of my hair!"

"...I think we're here." Lysander blinked, picking himself up. He didn't even try to get the leaves out of his hair.

"And where is 'here', may I ask?" asked Scorpius, raising an eyebrow.

"Wherever Albus is," replied Lysander, as though it were blatantly obvious.

Scorpius looked around. "There isn't anything there, it seems, other than the obvious - you know, trees, bushes... Oh, and a Heliopath, which, yet again, most people think is a figment of your imagination."

"Obviously Albus is around here somewhere," said Lysander softly. He stroked Blazing Ember's nose. "I trust Blazing Ember."

"I do, too," replied Scorpius. "I trust him to scorch my robes, break my wand and land us smack bang in the middle of the Forbidden Forest without any means of getting back to the castle."

Lysander didn't reply. "_Lumos_," he muttered. Scorpius wished that he could do the same.

Scorpius walked forward one pace, feeling unprotected without his wand - and stepped on something.

The something screamed. So did Scorpius. So did Lysander. Blazing Ember gave a snort of fear.

Then Lysander had the presence of mind to shine his wand on the 'something'.

Just like the last time, the 'something' turned out to be; "Rose?" Scorpius stepped away from the Gryffindor first year, who was lying on the forest ground.

"Rose!" gasped Lysander. He rushed forward and crouched down beside the freckly first year, who sat up. "Are you okay?"

"Erm..." Scorpius stared at Rose, who was gazing at Lysander, most likely wondering who he was. "This may seem like a stupid question, but... why are you on the floor?"

"Well, I was pushed by some stupid _thing_!" Rose exclaimed. "And it was _glowing_!" She turned to Lysander again. "Not to seem rude, but who... are you?"

"I'm Lysander." Was that _fondness_ in Lysander's eyes? Scorpius could have sniggered. "Lysander Scamander."

"Oh. Well, nice to meet you." At that moment, Rose suddenly seemed to realise that she had been talking to Scorpius previously. "_Malfoy_?" she spat. "What are _you_ doing here? You look a mess," she added.

"I'm... looking for Albus, if you must know," snapped Scorpius, feeling embarrassed. "And you don't exactly look perfect yourself!" It was true - Rose's face was mud streaked (though that could have been because Scorpius had stepped on her) and there were twigs decorating her red-brown hair.

"I would beg to differ with that last part," muttered Lysander under his breath, gazing at Rose.

"You're-"

"Leave it for later, just tell us what's going on!" Scorpius ordered. Rose flashed him a resentful glance, but told her story nonetheless.

"Well, me, Lorcan, and James went into the Forbidden Forest. I was going to work out what we were going to do, but then, like _total_ boys, they rushed off, leaving me to wander around in circles until I was crushed to the ground and stepped on!" She glared at Scorpius. Then her eyes widened as she realised what was behind him.

"Oh, that's Blazing Ember," explained Lysander. "He's a Heliopath. He led us here."

"What's a Heliotrope?" asked Rose curiously.

"Oh, it's a spirit of fire-" started Lysander, looking only too pleased to explain something to Rose, but Scorpius grabbed him.

"Leave it," he growled. "You can flirt with her later."

Lysander coloured up bright red. "I... I... Is it not good if I really like her?" he whispered.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "I'm no expert, as I'm _eleven_, but perhaps it's better to leave it for now."

"Oh, that's fine then." Lysander looked a bit happier. "I can wait."

Rose stared at them. "What are you talking about?" she demanded. "And I really want to know what _that_ is," she added, eyeing Blazing Ember.

"We'll explain later," Scorpius cut in, before Lysander could say a word. He wasn't interested in dealing with a lovesick Hufflepuff boy at the moment. "Do you have any idea at all of where they are, Weasley?" He hated having to work with Rose, but right now, it was his only hope.

Rose looked equally annoyed. "Not really. They just dashed off before I could see where they'd gone," she added grudgingly. She was evidently irritated - and abashed - that her book knowledge couldn't help them in this situation.

"Okay. Why don't we just... wander on the Heliopath," Scorpius said, finishing with a sigh. He hated the Heliopath, and wasn't sure that it had a particularly positive opinion of him, either.

"You could light your wand, if you wanted," suggested Lysander to Rose.

"Why doesn't _he_ light his wand?" She obviously wanted to avoid talking to Scorpius as much as possible.

"My wand got broken," Scorpius snapped, swinging himself onto Blazing Ember, avoiding her eyes. It was a delicate topic - he didn't want to discuss it.

And that was how Scorpius Malfoy got possibly - in his opinion - the worst travelling companions he could have been stuck with - a bitter, criticising Rose Weasley, and a lovesick, slightly insane Lysander Scamander.


	11. Shasuk and the Colony

Chapter XI - Shasuk and the Colony

_'Count your smile instead of your tears; count your courage instead of your fears.'  
- Unknown_

Albus didn't know where in Merlin's name he was. He only knew that it was dark. Very, very dark. And that he appeared to be trapped in some kind of straitjacket. He couldn't move. And he couldn't remember how he had got there.

It passed his mind that he might be dead, but, as Albus didn't want to think about that, he focused his thoughts on slightly more positive options.

In the dark, Albus thought that his lack of memory was strange. He _should_ have known how he had got there... Albus strained to remember.

_Let's see... Hagrid took me into the Forbidden Forest to introduce me to the centaurs... He said that it would be okay, because I was with a teacher... we went into the Forest... and then... and then..._

That was where his memory went blank. However, now Albus could hear the sounds of... scuttling? Albus wasn't sure. And where was Hagrid? Was he here, trapped, too?

"Hagrid!" he hissed. The sound issued out of his mouth, sounding oddly thin in the blackness. Albus shivered.

Now the scuttling sound had increased in volume. The black haired first year could now also hear the sounds of clicking, as though of... crabs? Or giant pincers, perhaps? Well, it was something along those lines, in any case.

But now there came an answering call - or maybe it wasn't answering. It certainly wasn't Hagrid, Albus could tell that much.

"Shasuk!" said the... thing, clicking as it did so. Albus couldn't understand it very well under the clicking of the pincers, but it was clear that the thing was not talking to him. "Shasuk! It is awake!"

The Gryffindor boy gathered that the thing was talking about him.

At that moment, he froze, remembering the terrifying stories that Uncle Ron had told him about one of his and Albus's father's trips into the Forbidden Forest...

_"...and the thing carried us and took us away - even Fang - to the very centre of the Forbidden Forest, where it talked to its leader, Aragog..." Uncle Ron spoke in a deadly whisper._

_The five year old Albus's eyes widened. Uncle Ron was being a very convincing story teller – he had been right to convince his, James's, and Lily's mother that they would be okay at Rose's and Hugo's house for the day. "And... what was it?"_

_"A giant spider," whispered Uncle Ron, his own eyes bulging as he shivered. "An _Acromantula_._ _Next to Albus, a seven year old James laughed. They all knew that Uncle Ron particularly hated spiders._

_"It's not funny!" Albus insisted. He turned back to Uncle Ron. "What happened then?"_

_"Aragog told its friends that they were allowed eat us, since we were mere humans," said Uncle Ron solemnly. Albus clapped his hands to his mouth, horrified._

_"How did you escape?" he squeaked through his fingers._

_"Well-" Uncle Ron began, but, at that moment, Aunt Hermione walked into the room, a bundle of washing under one arm, and three year old Lily squirming in the other._

_"Oh, stop it, Ron, you'll scare them." Her words were severe, but her voice was fond. "What'll we say to poor Harry and Ginny if they wake up in the middle of the night with horrible nightmares about gigantic spiders?"_

_"I s'pose." Uncle Ron shrugged sulkily, breaking off from his story. But he added in an undertone to Albus, "She wasn't there. She didn't see the huge spider, his milky eyes gazing upon us like-"_

_"Ron!" reprimanded Aunt Hermione sternly. Uncle Ron jumped - he obviously hadn't realised that his wife had been listening. Aunt Hermione tapped her ear. "You wouldn't know how to charm your ear so that you can hear people scaring the children, would you?"_

_"_I_'m not scared!" James insisted. "It's just a story, isn't it? _He_ might get nightmares-" he motioned towards his younger brother, "-but _I_'m brave!"_

_"I won't get nightmares...!"_

"The youngest one." The clicking came again. "The oldest one is unconscious still."

Albus was jerked out of his nostalgia. "Oh. My. Merlin," he breathed, his mind kicking into action for once. He felt quite proud of himself - albeit petrified - for 'doing a Rose' as he called it, and working something out for once. Maybe that was part of being a Gryffindor - in times of danger, your senses and brain became sharper than Ravenclaws' were at the best of times. (_Except for Rose,_ he thought, _because she's just a freak._)

Because he knew what it was.

There were Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest.

There was a faint scuttling. A huge shape bent over Albus, who tried to stay as still as possible.

"Speak, human," the voice clicked. Under the clicking, the Acromantula's voice was low and raspy. "Why have you come here?"

Albus made his voice fairly loud and clear - in case the giant spider was partly deaf - but couldn't stop it from shaking.

"Hagrid brought me." Albus's voice rang out, although it was tremoring. He still couldn't see a thing except the vast pincers that were bent over him. "I didn't know that Acromantulas resided here."

"After the battle of Hogwarts, our colonies seperated..." the Acromantula clicked fretfully. "You have run into one of these colonies - the colony of me, Shasuk, the last son of Aragog and Mosag."

_Aragog._ That name stirred Uncle Ron's story in his memory. Mosag must have been his mate, Albus decided.

"Why are you talking with it?" clicked another spider - it sounded angry. "It is of no use to us. Kill it!"

"Silence, Famofol!" Shasuk threw at the second spider. "It claims that the older one is Hagrid. Is that true, human?"

Albus didn't really want to open his mouth again for fear of throwing up - he was sure that that would not strengthen his chances of survival in an extensive group of huge, flesh-eating spiders - but he forced himself to speak. "Yes."

"What is the use of Hagrid?" asked the second Acromantula, Famofol, angrily. "Hagrid is nothing - nothing, since Aragog died! We owe no debt to him, nor any human that traipses into the Forest!"

"He saved my father's life," hissed Shasuk. "And formed our original colony. Have you not forgotten? How weak your memory is!"

"When I was leader of the colony, I would not have allowed this to happen," growled Famofol.

"When you took over as leader after Aragog's death, you tried to kill Hagrid!" Shasuk shot back.

"He took away Aragog's body!"

"It is the human way!"

"But it is not our way, Shasuk!"

Shasuk and Famofol's pincers were now clicking so rapidly that Albus could not understand half of what they were saying, but he got the gist. By the sounds of it, they were trying to decide whether to kill him or let him live. But that wasn't the main thing in Albus's mind. No, he was focusing on the only happy, positive thought that his numb mind had to offer.

_Scorpius will help me._

Yes, his friend would save him. Scorpius would come... surely he would...

And, trapped in an Acromantula web, in the dark, with hundreds of deadly Acromantula eyes on him, and two Acromantulas bartering for his life, that was how Albus survived without losing his mind.

***

Meanwhile, Lorcan and James were alone in the Forest with Fang. They now regretted running off and leaving Rose by herself - they seriously needed her brains.

Right at that point, they were sitting on a tree stump, in the dark, with no means of transport, or any means of knowing where Rose or Albus were. They were feeling just a bit sorry for themselves.

(They had no idea that, at that moment precisely, Albus was in the middle of an Acromantula web and that Rose was riding on a mythical spirit of fire with Lysander and an annoyed Scorpius - annoyed, because Lysander was trying unsuccessfully to flirt with Rose, which got on his nerves. Seeing as that Lysander was a bit of an oddity who really had no romantic background, he wasn't doing a very good job of it. Rose didn't even know that he was trying to chat her up - she just wondered why he kept going bright red.)

"I'm in Ravenclaw - I can sort this out," argued Lorcan, feeling annoyed that his brainpower was being bested by a Gryffindor girl.

"Go on, then," James invited dully. "I'd love to see a first year try and get us out of this."

With Lorcan's pride as a Ravenclaw now at stake, he was determined not to fail.

What was it that his mother always said? '_Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure_.' Well, Lorcan was going to use his wits now, and he was either going to get them out of this forest or die trying. Well, maybe not quite that far, but he was going to get them out of there, in any case.

_Let's see... if Rose and Albus are in here... not to mention Professor Hagrid, of course... that would mean that we could try and get their attention somehow... but risk some teacher seeing..._

"So, Oh Genius?" interrupted James. "Thought of any brilliant mastermind plans that'll get us to heroically save my brother as well as Rose and then gallop away on some sort of stolen palomino stallion?"

Lorcan's brow furrowed. "Not as such," he said testily. "But-" He broke off. "Wait - why a palomino?"

James looked sheepish. "I like palominos..."

Lorcan rolled his eyes, feeling like James's father, although James was two years older than him. "Right. Well, anyway, here's my plan."

"I'm listening." James dropped the fooling around act and leaned closer, eager to hear what sort of plan the Ravenclaw boy had cooked up.

_It's not brilliant, but it could work..._ thought Lorcan doubtfully.

***

Trying to block out Lysander's awful pick-up lines (honestly, Scorpius didn't have a clue where Lysander had picked them up - he shuddered to think) Scorpius was looking up at the trees. There was a small break in them. Scorpius could see that it had got dark already.

"What's that in your eye? Oh, it was just a twinkle." The line didn't sound at all right in Lysander's misty voice.

Rose looked confused. "That's 'cause the... stars are... shining..." She motioned towards the break in the branches. "And they're probably reflected in my eyes..."

Scorpius was just wondering what they were having to eat up at the castle (his stomach rumbled - he hadn't eaten all day) when a red flash of light soared over the treetops and burst.

Rose and Lysander were cut off from their latest awkward conversation ("Did you know, your eyes are like two crystal clear pools of... um... mud." "Er... thanks, I think?" "It sounded better in my head..." "I'm sure."). They both followed the pattern of the red streak of light.

_What does it mean?_

***

In another part of the forest altogether, all Albus saw was a band of red light shoot across his vision, and all he heard was the angry clicking of Acromantula pincers, before something solid and cold fell over his vision.


	12. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy and the Legacy

Chapter XII - Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy and the Malfoy Legacy

_'It is up to us to live up to the legacy that was left for us, and to leave a legacy that is worthy of our children and of future generations.'  
- Christine Gregoire_

"Okay, so the sparks came up from roughly _that _direction..." Rose muttered, pointing to where the streak of light had shot up from and tracing the pattern down to the ground. She glanced down at Blazing Embers. "Erm... Follow that light!" she tried tentatively.

The Heliopath obediently sped up from a measured walk to a canter, and, sure enough, it looked like it was headed for the place where the light seemed to have come from.

"Wow, this thing is nice to ride, isn't it?" shouted Rose gleefully, her red-brown hair whipping back from her face. "And it's so friendly!" Lysander looked ecstatic.

"If you say so," muttered Scorpius, staring determinedly away from the ground. He still hadn't forgiven this flame horse thing for the robe singing incident.

"Do you _really_ think it's a good... a good Heliopath?" asked Lysander hopefully.

"Well, I wouldn't _ever_ have thought that something like this would have existed..." Rose shrugged. "But, yeah, I quite like it, and there might be a lot of creatures like this in the world, who knows? Maybe I might take Care of Magical-" She broke off, looking confused as she stared at Lysander. Puzzlement showed in her brown eyes. "Er... why are you hugging me?"

Quickly, Lysander withdrew his arms, looking embarrassed. "Er... well... I like magical creatures too, and... er..."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. Lysander was simply socially awkward, and he didn't think that he could possibly be cured of this.

"Thank Merlin I'm a Malfoy," he muttered under his breath. Malfoys were socially able (except, it seemed, with Albus, whom he still felt a little awkward thinking about as a _friend_) and they never fancied someone so soon after they set eyes on them. Lysander had seen Rose, what, twice? It was idiotic, and Scorpius would have laughed at Lysander if not for...

Wait, why _wasn't_ he laughing at Lysander?

This thought alarmed him. He didn't know why he _shouldn't_ be making fun of Lysander, making snide remarks and hinting to Rose that Lysander liked her. In fact, Scorpius could barely remember the last time he had actually _made_ a snide comment. And when was the last time he had smirked – _properly_ smirked at someone?

_What the hell is happening to me?_

It seemed almost, now he looked at it, as though his Malfoy legacy was leaving him, as though everything that made him simply like his family was slowly leaking away through his fingertips like water, however hard he tried to grasp at it...

_Don't be stupid,_ he told himself severely, trying to right his frame of mind. _You're over-reacting. Over. Reacting._

"I think we're almost there." Rose peered through the trees, squinting. "Just a bit further..."

Scorpius blinked. _Get the legacy back, _a voice in the back of his mind – that sounded horribly like his father's – hissed at him. _Now_.

"Oh, Weasley, you're _so_ naïve," he said loudly, trying to colour his tone with snide humour. It scared him a bit more than just slightly that he had almost forgotten how to do it. "Where would you suggest that that red light or whatever it was came from, hmm? Never crossed your mind that it could have just been a Muggle firework, did it?"

"It looked more like a spell to me." Rose blinked coolly. "Besides, Muggles usually shoot off fireworks in November, and, in case you haven't noticed, this is September."

"Oh, 'cause you're just so _smart_ that you can _tell_ when it's a spell," Scorpius drawled. "And I suppose your filthy Mudblood mother told you that?"

Rose's hands tightened around her wand. "You – are – _despicable_," she hissed.

Lysander looked as though he was going to charge to Rose's heroic rescue. "_I_ think it's a spell too," he chipped in.

Scorpius gave a theatrical sigh. "Oh, Scamander, Scamander, Scamander," he tutted in an annoyingly arrogant tone. The patronizing tone was deliberate. "Little Miss Weasley here will not like you the slightest bit more if you try and fight her battles for her."

A smirk played around Scorpius's features as he fell back into his old routine of cutting remarks. Lysander's cheeks coloured up a deep scarlet.

However, it seemed... childish, somehow, Scorpius thought. He couldn't place his finger on it, but... insulting the people he needed to work with seemed... a bit _shallow_, in some way – it didn't feel like he had that superior sort of dignity to him anymore... And the smirk on his face felt... just a little _forced_.

The phrase '_Don't sink to their level_' surfaced in his mind.

And all in all, the whole charade made him feel about nine.

But, still, the Malfoy legacy was at stake. He couldn't let it down. So he simply had to continue, no matter if he was in the justice obsessed house of Gryffindor or not.

"What are you talking about?" asked Rose, her tone sounding highly irritated at Scorpius's last remark.

"Weasley, don't talk about things that you don't understand," Scorpius murmured, still mulling over the infantile, immature sort of situation. "You'll only-"

"OI!"

What with all the remarks that Scorpius had been making, trying to live up to his heritage, he, Rose, nor Lysander had noticed that Blazing Embers had stopped. They had also failed to notice the two shapes that had spontaneously rushed out of the gathering gloom to greet them, seeming not to care that the three of them were seated upon a large fire spirit. It had been James who had shouted.

"Are you just going to sit there on that weird horse thingy or whatever it is – which is actually really cool, by the way, and I'd ask where you got it but we don't have time - all night or are you going to respond to our distress call?"

Rose shot a smug look at Scorpius. "It was a spell after all! Wow, I'd never have thought it."

Scorpius scowled.

Lorcan was gazing up at Blazing Embers and Lysander, an expression of mixed awe and confusion on his face. "Lysander... first of all, what are you doing here?"

Lysander met his brother's gaze steadily. "I'm helping Scorpius to rescue his best friend Albus, of course." His misty tone was innocent.

Which made Scorpius want to throttle Lysander.

"His... best friend?" James smirked. His eyes flashed as he looked at Scorpius. "I _see_."

Which made Scorpius want to throttle James.

"It's... ugh; the Howler made me think... and it's..." He stumbled over his words, having little to no control over what he seemed to be saying. "His damn personality is so _irritating_ that you can't help but be friends with him," he blurted out. "'Specially if he thinks you're best friends already."

Which made Scorpius want to throttle himself.

The only people who weren't smirking now were the twins (because Lorcan never 'got' anything, and to be honest, Lysander smirking would just be _scary_). Even Blazing Ember looked like his mouth was curving a little. Or maybe that was just Scorpius's imagination. In any case, the situation was most embarrassing.

Lorcan broke the silence. "And second of all," he said, directing his question at Lysander, still, seeming unaware of the half tense situation, "is that what I think it is?"

Lysander nodded, a broad grin unfurling over his face. "Yes! It's a real, live Heliopath! His name is Blazing Ember," he added.

James was still staring at Scorpius, smirking, but this new revelation made him turn around. "Come again?" he asked. "And the name sounds _way_ too much like 'heliotrope' – just warning you now, I'm going to get _very _confused."

"It's..." Lorcan looked vaguely uncomfortable. "It's one of his imaginary creatures that only he and Grandad Xeno believe in. Well, Mum says they _could_ exist, but..."

Lysander smiled benignly. This seemed to be his way of being triumphant. "It's not so imaginary now, is it?" he said to Lorcan amiably.

Lorcan looked slightly flustered. He quickly straightened his neat glasses, which were slightly askew. Scorpius got the feeling he had slight obsessive compulsive disorder. "Er... um... well..." Typically Ravenclaw, he didn't want to admit that he was wrong.

Scorpius was just glad that the attention was diverted from him again. He thanked his lucky stars that James was not smirking at him anymore.

Well, so much for upholding the family legacy.


	13. Albus Severus Potter and the Battle

Chapter XIII - Albus Severus Potter and the Battle

_'He who is well prepared has already won half the battle.'  
- Proverb_

Whatever was happening, Albus could tell that it wasn't good. The streak of red light seemed to have been burned into his vision, and it seemed to have upset the Acromantula. Even Shasuk seemed agitated. He lifted his pincer – that was the hard, cold thing that Albus had felt upon his face.

"What is this?" Famofol hissed. "More humans in our forest? Surely you cannot stand for this, Shasuk..."

Albus's eyes widened. _Rosie...? Scorpius...?_

"No." Shasuk sounded furious. "This small one can be spared. He is with Hagrid. Hagrid saved our colony – they mean no harm. The others, however, are intruders who must be slaughtered."

All Albus saw was the eerie glint of a shining pincer in the moonlight. He flinched – whatever Shasuk's words, he was convinced that Famofol was going to kill him now.

However, the pincer simply sliced through the sticky webs that bound Albus to the ground. He scrambled up immediately, touching his pocket briefly to check that his wand was still there. He sighed with relief – it was.

There were gigantic Acromantula all around him, staring at him with their eight shining black eyes. Right in front of him was a huge Acromantula about as big as a small elephant. Albus guessed immediately that this was Shasuk. Another large – though not as large – Acromantula hung at Shasuk's shoulder, as far as he had one. This was obviously Famofol.

"Go now, human," Shasuk said. It was uncanny – Albus could not see his mouth. "We are sparing your life this time. But beware – next time we shall not be so merciful. If you are not gone before daybreak, then we will take your life – and if we do not, there are plenty more of us in the Forest..."

"What about Hagrid?" asked Albus boldly. "Where's Hagrid?"

There was no answer, only a deadly silence.

"We will go now to find the trespassers," Famofol said finally. "Your Hagrid will help us. Seeing the innocent killed before his eyes will be his punishment for taking Aragog's body away from us."

There was a terrible howl of grief from somewhere out of Albus's limited vision.

"Yeh can't... yeh just _can't_... I never meant no harm, really... On'y wanted to give him a proper burial, really..."

Albus's heart gave a pang as he recognised Hagrid's voice.

On this ominous note, Shasuk and Famofol backed away into a large domed web. The other, smaller – but by no means any less terrifying – Acromantula followed suit. Albus guessed – with a thrill of dread – that they were going to see to the 'intruders' – of whom Albus sure were Rosie and Scorpius.

As soon as the last Acromantula was out of sight, Albus sat down under a tree, gasping with mixed fear and terror.

_I only have until daybreak,_ he thought, _or they'll kill me too. But I can't... I can't just sit here waiting for them to... _He shuddered. There was only one option.

Although it was the last thing he wanted to do, Albus pulled out his wand, muttered, "_Lumos_," and, guided by the light of his wand, he followed the colony of Acromantula.

***

"People, I think we're going in circles."

Lorcan voiced this opinion after roughly quarter of an hour of riding the fire spirit. Blazing Embers had slowed to a quick paced trot, and, to be honest, it didn't look much like he knew where he was going. So, privately, Scorpius agreed with this statement.

"He's just tired," Lysander insisted. He patted Blazing Ember's flank reassuringly. "I'm sure he'll-" He broke off into a gasp at the sight that had begun to emerge before them.

To tell the truth, it wasn't what Scorpius had been expecting at all.

At least ten or twenty Heliopaths were emerging out of the trees, the fire of their manes and tails burning brightly. Blazing Ember gave a soft whinny.

"Wow," Lysander whispered. Scorpius could see the flickering fire reflected in his blue eyes. This was beyond strange – it was surreal.

Feeling that it was the right thing to do, Scorpius quickly slid off Blazing Ember's back and stood back, knowing that he might want to greet the other Heliopaths. Following Scorpius's lead, Rose, James, Lorcan, and Lysander also dismounted and stood to watch as Blazing Embers walked up to the leading Heliopath and touched his nose to the other Heliopath's.

"It's Fudge's old Heliopath army," Lysander breathed, gazing in wonderment at the scene that was unfolding in front of them.

Blazing Ember turned back to the five Hogwarts students. He snorted. A spark flew out of his nose and landed on Scorpius's robes. The hem caught fire.

"OI!" bellowed Scorpius, thoroughly annoyed. He stamped on the hem of his robes, which were now just as singed as his shoulder. "Damn Heliopath!" He swore loudly.

James grinned. "Didn't know you had that sort of language in you, Slythindor."

Scorpius swore at James.

"Oh, shut up, you two," said Rose impatiently. "This is supposed to be a touching and heartfelt farewell."

"It was," grumbled Scorpius, "until the damn thing set fire to my robes. _Again_, I might add."

Rose shook her head and turned her attention back to Blazing Embers. He had walked forward and Lysander was now petting his head.

"Ah! That's so sweet!" Rose squealed. Lysander beamed at her as Blazing Embers left to join his family.

"But sad..." murmured Lorcan.

James let out a long breath. "Yeah," he admitted, watching the last flaming tail of the very last Heliopath whip out of sight. "We haven't got any transport now."

The five of them stared at each other in dismay as they realised that it was true. With Blazing Ember gone, there was no way of even finding their way around the forest.

"This is great," complained Scorpius. "Just _fantastic_."

"Well, sitting around here won't help," Rose said bossily. "Let's get moving."

It was all very well for _her_, thought Scorpius gloomily, but _he_ hadn't eaten since yesterday, as well as having had a very restless night's sleep.

_Was that just last night?_ Scorpius wondered. It seemed a million years ago that he had received the Howler, let alone slept in his own bed in Gryffindor Tower.

"Er... people?" Lorcan's terrified voice sounded from behind Scorpius. "There's... um... well..."

Scorpius turned to see what Lorcan was talking about. However, before he could see any more than a shaking Lorcan, pointing at something on the horizon with one finger, fear in his eyes, James shouted "Get behind that tree!"

His tone was so panicked Scorpius didn't even have time to think. He simply found himself dashing towards a thicket of small (for the Forbidden Forest, still huge in comparison to normal trees) spruce trees. He found a hand grasping his and wondered what was going on. It wasn't until he was enclosed in the trees, gasping for breath, that he realised who had been grabbing his hand.

"Rose?" he hissed. Blushing a furious red to the roots of her flaming hair, Rose wrenched her hand out of Scorpius's and wiped it on her robes as though Scorpius were carrying some disgusting and vile disease.

"Shut up," she muttered, her brown eyes on the floor. "I just grabbed the nearest hand I could find. It just happened to be yours, that's all."

"Right." Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Untrue," Lysander piped up. He was looking daggers at Scorpius. "She tried to get away from me when I tried to... um..." Lysander also went scarlet, "...take her hand."

"Oh, shut up," muttered Rose again, going, if it was possible, an even darker shade of red.

"Shhhh!" Lorcan shushed them. He was peering out of the trees. He seemed to have ran his hand through his hair several times - it was rather dishevelled. "There's something out there, and James..." He gulped.

Scorpius then remembered why he had been running for the spruce trees in the first place. Suddenly, the Rose matter seemed unimportant, trivial.

"Where's James?" he asked, concerned.

"I don't know." Lorcan gulped. "I just... I can't see properly from here."

Scorpius forced his way through a bush and peered through it. The most terrible sounds were coming from the clearing - screeching in anger and pain, as well as blasting sounds as though of a spell, and... an ominous clicking sound...

Scorpius's heart skipped a beat.

Spiders. Giant spiders. Scorpius had never heard rumours of Acromantula living in the Forbidden Forest - if he had, he would have tried far harder to resist Lysander's strong grasp when he was first pulled into the Forest.

And James was there, fighting them. They surged over the leaves, each as large as carthorses - some even bigger. James kept shouting and firing some odd blue light at them. It seemed to work for a second, before more Acromantula returned to take the place of the fallen, and it seemed that James couldn't keep them at bay much longer...

"Albus!" squealed Rose. She appeared to have been looking over the top of Scorpius's head. "Merlin - it's Albus!"

And she was right. Alongside James, was a smaller, slighter figure, also blasting the spiders away, though with not as much power.

Albus.


	14. James Sirius Potter and the Acromantula

Chapter XIV - James Sirius Potter and the Acromantula

_'There is way too much fear about spiders...'  
- Steve Jacobs_

"For Merlin's sake, we have to help them!" gasped Lorcan. He snatched his wand out of his pocket and sprang out of the trees. They watched him charge into the scene for a few moments before Lysander drew his wand, too.

"I can't just sit here while friends are in danger." He gave a nod, avoiding Rose's eyes. "See you later."

Scorpius wanted to go and help, too - but what use was he without a wand?

"Go on, then," he snapped at Rose. He gestured towards the clearing. "Go and help your cousins."

Rose seemed to break out of a trance. She coloured up an even deeper red than before.

"Oh - um, yes..." she stuttered. "For Merlin's sake, Slythindor, why didn't you say before?"

And she was gone, too. Scorpius, yet again, rolled his eyes.

"Right." he muttered. "What can I do here?"

He paced back and forth, trying to think of a constructive way to help. However, he could still hear the battle screams from outside the thicket of spruce trees. This made him more agitated than ever.

He sat down. He crossed his legs. He jiggled one foot up and down. He stood up again. He paced. He froze as a heart stopping scream echoed out of the clearing.

He couldn't just sit there - he had to act. Just as he had before, Scorpius acted without thinking, on instinct. Completely abandoning his Malfoy heritage, Scorpius charged out of the thicket, with nothing but his bare hands to protect him.

He whipped out the broken remains of his wand, prescence of mind not completely deserting him. Quickly, he felt around in one of his pockets, and fervently praised Merlin as he found a tiny pocket sized roll of Spellotape there. Swiftly, Scorpius jammed the two bits of his wand together and wrapped the Spellotape around it.

"Wingardium Leviosa," he tested. The wand shot out a few sparks, and the leaf caught fire. Scorpius stamped on it quickly, thinking that that would have to do.

He raced out of the thicket again, trying to locate the person that had screamed. It wasn't Albus or Lysander - they were there, fighting off two large, angry looking Acromantula, both of whom were clicking their pincers angrily. Lorcan was being cornered by another Acromantula. Quickly, Scorpius dashed over, his trainers skidding on the dead leaves.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Scorpius cried, aiming the wand at one of the Acromantula's many eyes. A strange bullet of yellow light shot out of Scorpius's wand and hit the Acromantula squarely on the forehead, as far as it had one. It must have done something - though what, Scorpius wasn't sure - because the Acromantula squealed in pain and fell to the ground, writhing in agony.

"Thanks!" shouted Lorcan gratefully. "Tarantallegra!" he added, pointing his wand at another approaching Acromantula, whose legs began jerking out of its control in an odd kind of quickstep.

If the situation had not been so serious, Scorpius would have laughed.

"Where are James and Rose?" Lorcan yelled over the noise of the clicking pincers and the spells soaring over their heads. "Rictusempra!"

Another Acromantula fell at Lorcan's spell.

"I don't know," Scorpius shouted back, thinking that in these circumstances it was probably quite acceptable to try and team up with Lorcan, even if Scorpius was a Malfoy. "Did you hear that scream?"

Lorcan nodded, looking worried. "Yeah!" he replied. "Do you think it was one of them?"

"Belleflamos Azures!" shouted Scorpius, aiming his wand at a point over Lorcan's left shoulder. He didn't know why he had chosen to shoot the bluebell flame charm - it was difficult at the best of times, and with his wand in such a state...

The Acromantula screeched angrily as the purple firecracker-like thing that had exploded from Scorpius's wand hit one of its many legs, causing what looked like a severe burn.

He grabbed Lorcan's arm and quickly ducked through the tangle of giant spiders, while Lorcan shot spells behind him at random.

"Do you know why they're trying to kill us?" asked Scorpius angrily, shooting the Leg Locking jinx (which created an odd mirror-like puddle on the ground that sucked in a nearby Acromantula - Scorpius quickly edged away from it) in front of him as a precaution.

"Not a clue!" Lorcan looked like he was trying to sound cheerful, but his face looked strained. Scorpius couldn't blame him for feeling a little bit nervous.

The scream ringing in his ears, Scorpius bade a quick farewell to Lorcan (who was tussling with a smallish Acromantula and unfortunately couldn't return his goodbye) and disappeared through the heaving masses of Acromantula, casting spells (which did increasingly odd and worrying things) when the need arose.

He was just backing into a tree, trying to escape a stampede of Acromantula, when a familiar voice sounded close to his right ear.

"Need any help?"

Scorpius turned to see a grinning Albus, wand in hand.

Seeing Albus made Scorpius remember why he had embarked on this annoyingly perilous quest in the first place.

"Would you mind?" Scorpius grinned guiltily. "My wand broke."

"No probs, Scorp," said Albus, still grinning broadly from ear to ear. "Rictusempra!"

And as the Tickling Charm hit another giant spider, that was when Scorpius realised that it was probably the first time a Malfoy had actually asked someone something in a non-sarcastic way.

And he also realised that, after the whole 'Slythindor' palaver, the nickname 'Scorp' wasn't actually all that bad.

Damn my un-Malfoy-like persona, thought Scorpius, gritting his teeth. But, if he hadn't been gritting his teeth, he would have been grinning in a way not dissimilar to Albus.

***

"Okay, just repeat the spell!" yelled Albus. "It's Arania Exumai!"

"But my wand'll just do something really weird!" shouted Scorpius, terror rising in his voice. He fought to keep it down. "It's broken!"

"Never mind, it'll do something to it anyway!" Albus seemed to wave off the information that Scorpius's wand was broken. He slashed his wand across his line of vision. "Arania Exumai!" The flash of blue light that Scorpius had seen earlier shot out of Albus's wand, causing an Acromantula to be blasted back, screeching.

"Arania Exumai!" shouted Scorpius. "Arania Exumai!"

His wand gave a rather half hearted flop.

"Oh, just work, you damn thing!" Scorpius screeched. He let out a stream of swear words that he certainly would not have used in front of his mother. Of all the times for his wand to not do something insane yet effective...

"It's not a first-year - Arania Exumai - spell," panted Albus, white as a sheet with the effort of holding off several Acromantula at once. "But James taught - Arania Exumai - it to me just now, and it kind of wo- Arania Exumai!"

"So..." Scorpius shot a spell at the Acromantula - he wasn't sure what it had done, but now the huge spider seemed to be disintergrating. He tore his eyes away to look at Albus again. "What've you been doing while we were running around the whole forest looking for you?"

"Er..." Albus gave a sheepish grin. He fired a spell at an approaching Acromantula. "Hagrid took me into the Forest, but we got kidnapped by this lot, and-" He broke off into a gasp. "Hagrid!"

And without another word, he hared off.

"Helpful!" called Scorpius after him. "Really satisfying story, that one."

He was a little put out that Albus had just disappeared without any other thought, but Scorpius had more pressing matters to deal with. Such as, what to do when several flesh-eating Acromantula bear down on you when your wand is broken.

"Arania Exumai!" Scorpius screamed in a panic. "Wingardium Leviosa! Lumos!" He tried every spell he could think of, and the Wingardium Leviosa actually worked - albeit the fact that it had backfired. He was now suspended in midair, upside down, the blood rushing to his head.

However, the Acromantula couldn't get to him, and that was a plus. Despite the fact that Scorpius would surely faint if he stayed up there much longer, he could see over the swarming heads of the massive Acromantula. And so, in theory, he would be able to search for the source of the scream he had heard earlier.

_Right,_ he thought. So, he could still see Lorcan, who was shooting sparks at several Acromantula. He seemed to be doing pretty well, as Lysander was helping him along. Scorpius managed something that was between a smirk and a smile (a smirl, Scorpius thought) as he realised that, actually, he had been avoiding Rose ever since she had grabbed Scorpius's hand.

_Well, that's that friendship done and dusted,_ Scorpius thought. To his immense surprise, he realised that he felt sorry about that. Really, if his Malfoy heritage was to be compared to a bucket of water, then someone up there was seriously drilling holes in it. Everything that made him a Malfoy was leaking away from him, fast.

But, to Scorpius's even greater surprise, he found that he didn't particularly care. He realised that he had always found his father cold and hard shelled when he had been growing up...

Scorpius shook his head - this was no time for sentimental stuff! It was hard, because of all the blood now in his face. He tried to reach up and managed to grab his foot, which meant that his head was the right way up, even if his stomach would be aching afterwards. He felt a bit dizzy, and felt an overwhelming urge to quickly grab his head. He refrained, realising that he would have to let go of his foot for that to happen.

He twisted his head around to that his whole body was in a very strange position. Looking over the crowd of Acromantula, he gave a shout of recognition as he saw the vaguely familiar shape of James. He appeared to be lying on the ground. Scorpius's eyes widened as he realised that there was blood flowing freely out of a wound on James's head. Evidently, he had been the one who had screamed. Nearby, Rose's reddish brown hair whipped around her head as she darted to and fro, muttering what looked like every enchantment she knew under her breath to keep the Acromantula away from James.

James needed help.

"Lysander! Lorcan!" yelled Scorpius. He could barely hear his own voice over the skittering and clicking of pincers, but it must have reached the twins' ears somehow, because they looked up (though Lysander performed the action reluctantly).

Scorpius could see Lorcan mouthing the words 'What's wrong?'

"James!" Scorpius shouted. His throat felt raw from the volume of his shouts. He motioned vigorously with his head towards where James lay. "In trouble! Rose needs help!"

At these words, Lysander was gone. If Rose needed help, he was already there. Scorpius would have shaken his head, but in required unnecessary energy on his behalf.

Lorcan followed, casting spells at any Acromantula that dared to come near.

Scorpius wished that he could get down. He also wished that he knew where Albus had gone. Although Scorpius's grey eyes had roved the scene many times (he noticed that the pool of reflective stuff that his wand had cast was still trapping Acromantula and sucking them in) he still couldn't catch sight of Albus, or, apparantly, Hagrid. Scorpius assumed that that was who Albus had gone looking for. Also, the boarhound, Fang, seemed to have gone. Scorpius wondered whether the dog had been sucked into the seemingly growing puddle of silvery stuff.

But now there was a great roar from somewhere along the distance. And the Acromantula stopped. The clicking of their many pincers was deadened.

And that was when Scorpius saw the orangey, flickering glow.


	15. Draco Malfoy and the Shouting Match

Chapter XV - Draco Malfoy and the Shouting Match

_'Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.'  
- Henry David_

The second that Scorpius stopped concentrating, and started concentrating on the fire, his charm broke - suddenly, he was no longer suspended from his ankle in midair, but instead on the ground, with leaves strewn in his hair yet again.

Because it was a fire. He could tell. And he knew what had caused it.

Not stopping to think about the Acromantula, Scorpius rushed to the place where he thought that he had roughly seen James and Rose. As soon as he caught sight of them, he grabbed the first person's wrist - which happened to be Lysander's - that he saw.

He also snatched up a fallen wand which was lying on the floor. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he gasped. James's unconscious body hovered uncertainly several centimeters off the ground. Still holding the wand and Lysander's wrist, and trying to keep the charm intact, Scorpius bellowed, "Run!" and dragged Lysander and James to... well, wherever his feet would take them. All he hoped was that Lorcan and Rose would have the presence of mind to follow them.

There was a great neigh of anger. I knew it, thought Scorpius grimly. Heliopaths. I just knew it. All of the Heliopaths that probably lived in the Forbidden Forest, with Blazing Embers at their head, charged down the slope that was covered in trees. This time, Scorpius noticed, they were angry and they were galloping, and the scorch marks that their hooves left behind were bursting into flame behind them.

The Acromantulas seemed to break out of their trance. They surged in one angry line towards the fire spirits, clicking just as angrily as before. Beast clashed upon beast - pincer on fire. Scorpius just felt his feet pounding beneath him as the blood rushed in his ears and he heard the even sounds of battle - even louder than before, if that was even entirely possible.

He kept running until the only screams in his ears were that of Rose's as she saw James's blood soaked body, and the dry sobs that shook his body were his own. He fell to his knees, the wand falling out of his hand. Scorpius felt that he could hardly see, couldn't feel, couldn't breathe...

There was no other alternative to the strange pain he felt. He had just run around in the Forbidden Forest for hours on end, trying to find his friend, only for his friend's brother to be attacked by giant, flesh consuming Acromantula, and his friend to disappear for good...

He put his face in his hands. There were no tears wetting his cheeks, but only the dry gasps for breath that racked him.

Rose was crying. Her eyes were red and swollen, the tears leaving shining tracks down her face. Lysander stood next to her, his face impassive. Lorcan's looked identical.

It was too much. Everything that Scorpius had experienced that night... he just couldn't deal with that on his very first week. His clothes were torn, there were numerous scratches on his face and hands, as well as a raw, ragged cut on his cheek, and his hair was tangled with the remains of dead leaves.

Scorpius gladly gave in to the numbing blackness of unconsciousness.

***

"No, no, there's no major harm... Only infected scratches, cleared up, no problem..."

"...wonder none of them were killed..."

"...out in the Forbidden Forest! And first years, too!"

"...lucky that you found them when you did..."

"...what's that? Acromantula? Don't be ludicrous, Hagrid, the last time we saw them was when He Who Must Not Be Named was killed..."

"...Well, if you insist... see what we can do..."

The voices floated in and out of Scorpius's brain, but they didn't really register. Everything was dull and foggy, and there was a burning sensation on his cheek...

"...Mr Malfoy?"

"...Apparated straight here when I heard... Where is he?"

"...hospital wing, but I don't think he's ready to..."

Something finally struck a chord in Scorpius's brain. Malfoy. Malfoy. Mr Malfoy. Which must mean...

A thin yet strong pair of hands shook him by the shoulders. Scorpius blinked, disorientated and confused. The pale, pointed face and white blonde hair of Draco Malfoy swam into view.

"F-Father?" Scorpius blinked several times. "Why...?"

Now that Scorpius took a good look at his father - though it was difficult in his half-conscious state - he could see that he looked absolutely alive with rage.

"What do you think you're doing, wandering off into the Forbidden Forest like that?" spat Draco Malfoy.

"Mr Malfoy!" The matron hurried over in astonishment. "I'm afraid that Scorpius needs rest and relaxation-"

"Don't tell me what my own son needs!" hissed Scorpius's father. He turned back to Scorpius, who was now feeling a little more alert - and more than a little scared. "You could have been killed! You could have killed any of these... children..." He forced the word out, looking as though it cost him everything to talk about Harry Potter's children in an even slightly affectionate manner.

But Scorpius was now feeling angry himself. He was remembering what James had said to him at one point.

_"So, you're saying that I should hate my parents, too?"_

_"No...I'm saying that maybe it's time to stand up to your father. Just for once."_

And then, at that moment, the voice of a young man whispered into Scorpius's ear. And somehow, Scorpius knew that it was the voice of Sirius Black.

"Go on," the voice whispered. "What has he ever given you? Only a hard, unrelenting childhood..."

"No, father." Scorpius was surprised by how hoarse his voice sounded, but he pressed on nonetheless. Draco stopped in the middle of a rant about how Scorpius had brought shame on the family, looking disbelieving.

"What did you say?"

"I said, no," replied Scorpius, his voice growing stronger. "I... I'm glad that I was Sorted into Gryffindor. I'm happy that I'm finally out from under your shadow. I don't care if you blast me off the family tree - Sirius Black was blasted off, and did it matter to him? And, do you know something else?" Scorpius was close to shouting at his father now. Draco's grey eyes were almost popping out of their skull, and the matron hung back, looking embarrassed. "My best friend is Albus Potter."

Draco's face contorted - first it was anger, then fear took over, followed by a look of great sadness, before he forced his face into an impassive mask of rage again.

"Why, you ungrateful..." he spluttered. "So, you don't care about your poor grandfather, who is right now in St Mungo's with some sort of Muggle condition called a 'stroke'? And that he might not live?" Without giving Scorpius any time to reply, he stood up, turned on his heel and marched to the door. "Fine," he spat bitterly, rigidly. "Don't be a Malfoy, then."

Scorpius's heart was beating at a hundred miles per hour.

"Good work," whispered Sirius Black's voice. "You did the right thing..."

"Well done."

Scorpius noticed a voice from the next bed. He looked across to see James, who was splattered in dried blood. Scorpius winced. "Doesn't that...?"

"Oh, it looks worse than it is," James assured Scorpius. "I got completely mended, it's just that this blood isn't off me yet." He reached across for his wand, which was on his bedside table. "Scourgify." The blood disappeared. "Better?"

"Much," agreed Scorpius. But then the sick feeling returned to the pit of his stomach. "What am I going to do?" he half whispered. "I don't think my father will actually physically let me back home, and my wand's broken, and..."

"I'm sure he will," James said.

"But-"

"Oh, don't worry." Albus's voice sounded from the doorway. Scorpius looked up to see him. He was grinning again. "Heard your shouting match with your dad, Scorp. Angry, much?"

"Just a bit," mumbled Scorpius. "How long have I been here?"

"Well, it's Wednesday afternoon..." Albus answered. "You've been out cold for three days. Professor Craft knows a wandmaker, and so..."

He drew a wand from behind his back.

"Ta da!" Albus looked very pleased with himself. "Your new wand!"

Scorpius couldn't help it. He grinned as he took his new wand. "I'll have to thank Professor Craft." But his mind was still bursting with unanswered questions. "What actually happened? I just remember you-" he pointed at James, "unconscious, and the Acromantula and the Heliopaths, and then..." He tailed off.

"Me and Hagrid found you all out cold," Albus explained. "The leader Acromantula was keeping him prisonor. But we escaped, and then Hagrid brought you back to the castle. The Forbidden Forest's gone up in flames - the centaurs are furious, they're putting in a complaint."

"Hagrid's keeping the unicorns in a paddock for a while until they get a new home, but he's not sure how long that will be," continued James. "And the babies are starting to get really nervous, and when the babies are nervous, the adults are nervous."

"And what about Lysander and Lorcan and Rose?" asked Scorpius.

"All fine," Albus reported. "Rose woke up yesterday and just about passed out again when she realised she'd missed a load of homework." Albus chortled.

"Thanks, Al," replied Scorpius. "I'm sure she was thrilled."

Then he realised what he had said. He had called him _Al_.

Scorpius sighed. His head throbbed, and he'd just been disowned by his own father, but all those things would heal in time, he mused.

As long as he had his friends with him.

And, as Scorpius had figured out, friends were worth more than their weight in gold.


	16. Lelina Adalia Atkinson and the Sorting

_PART TWO_

Chapter I - Lelina Adalia Atkinson and the Sorting

_'There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.'  
- Winston Churchill_

"Potter, Lily!"

Albus's chalk faced sister stumbled out of line, gave the masses of students that were eyeing her a terrified look with bright brown eyes, and thrust the Sorting Hat over her eyes. The majority of her fiery red hair was obscured by Hat.

And the blonde haired, pale third year Gryffindor named Scorpius Malfoy couldn't help but notice that, small and first yearish as she was, that she was very pretty.

"Hope she'll be in Gryffindor," he commented to the black haired boy that was sitting next to him, Albus Potter.

"You've got a different attitude to when you first started here, Scorp," Albus grinned. Scorpius flushed a pale pink.

"Stop calling me Scorp," he grumbled, pushing his friend. He hated the topic being brought up of when Scorpius had thought that he was better than everyone else. "We're in third year now. Mature-er-er..." Scorpius broke off.

Albus's green eyes lit up as the Hat announced, "Gryffindor!" and Lily Potter rushed off towards her brothers.

"Well done, Lily!" cheered James, Albus's older brother, who was now in the fifth year.

Lily sat down and stared at her plate for a measured amount of time. Then she looked up at James.

"You sound so surprised." Scorpius could tell she was trying to sound teasing, but the shaking in her voice kind of ruined it slightly. Her eyes were also too bright, her voice too high. "'Course I was going to be in Gryffindor!"

"That's not what Albus thought when he first started..." James flashed a look at his brother.

"Shut up." Albus threw a fork at James. James stopped it with a flick of his wand.

"I'm too quick for you, little brother."

"Hugo's up soon!" From a little way down the table, Rose Weasley stared at the dwindling line of soon-to-be-Sorted first years. She sounded excited.

"Oh, good." Lily looked pleased.

Rose Weasley had established, over the past few years, that she did not, in fact 'hate that idiot Malfoy with a passion', as she had insisted on their first week. In fact, although she denied it vehemently, she did seem to like him a little bit more than in a friendship kind of way. Scorpius still wasn't too impressed with Rose, himself. He also wasn't impressed with the fact that he could never look at the stupid girl any more without her going any shade of red paler than scarlet. He almost wished for the days back again where they had unrestrictedly hated each other.

Strangely, the Hufflepuff boy Lysander had still not given up on Rose - instead, he had just decided to glare at Scorpius for about five seconds before they started any conversation and mutter darkly, "Mark my words..." Scorpius wasn't too bothered about this, but he did wish that Lysander's twin brother, Lorcan, would stop tailing Dominique Weasley (who was Victoire Weasley's younger sister, now starting her second year) as if he were her puppy.

"Weasley, Hugo!"

"Here we go, time for Hugo!" Rose craned her neck to see her brother better. She was very short for a third year, a fact that Albus - who had had his growth spurt early and was now about a foot taller than Rose - enjoyed teasing her about.

"Gryffindor!" announced the Sorting Hat predictably. Scorpius clapped along with the rest of the table as the brown haired first year approached the table.

"Sit here, Hugo," said Rose, shifting so that her brother could sit next to her. "I want to tell you all about Transfiguration in your first year-"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. Try as she might to stop the habit, Rose was still very bossy.

Hugo looked embarrassed and lost in the sea of several third years and a fifth year. "No thanks," he muttered, and then, apparently finding Lily, he edged closer to her, saying, "I think I'll sit next to Lily."

James laughed. "Sucker!" he said in a very immature way, even pointing at her. "Ha ha!"

Scorpius glanced at Albus. "You know how I said about being more mature now that we're in third year?"

"Yeah?"

Scorpius grinned, still gazing at James, who was still making fun of Rose. "I take it back."

***

"Transfiguration?" Albus groaned theatrically, flinging up his hands. "First thing on our first Monday on our very first day back?"

"_First_ of all, I can't control the timetable, Al," said Scorpius. "And second, yes. Yes, we have."

"You're starting your new subjects today, aren't you?" asked James, leaning over Scorpius to take the milk jug from the other side of the Gryffindor table.

Scorpius nodded, watching Albus's brother pour milk over his rather large bowl of cornflakes.

"What are you taking?"

"Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy," Scorpius reeled off. He took a small bite of his toast, wondering how James could possibly eat so much.

"Really?" Albus looked slightly crestfallen. "I'm taking Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies."

"Ah, you'll get over it." Scorpius rolled his eyes.

Albus turned to Rose, who was sitting on the other side of the table. "What are you taking, Rosie?"

"Oh, erm..." Rose glanced across at Scorpius. Her eyes then quickly returned to her porridge as she flushed a carnation pink. "Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Divination."

Ignoring Rose's blush, Scorpius commented, "That subject's really stupid, by the way."

Rose's skin tone turned darker and she started muttering rapidly under her breath.

Scorpius glanced at Albus, eyebrows raised. "_Right_. Well, it's nearly nine." He stood up, scraping his chair across the tiled floor (Hugo, nearby, winced), and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "See you in Transfiguration, Al. I suppose you're having Transfiguration with us, too, Rose, so I'll see you there if you are."

James muttered something that sounded vaguely like a 'bye', though it was hard to tell with his mouth full of cereal.

Scorpius was just climbing the sweeping marble staircase that led to his first lesson when the bell rang.

_They're going to be late,_ thought Scorpius. _Hadgeso's going to be furious..._

Professor Hadgeso, their Transfiguration teacher, was Ravenclaw's Head of House and particularly strict. Many students grumbled that he should have been Head of Slytherin, he took so much delight in handing out detentions to Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students.

In the Transfiguration courtyard many students were already milling about. A closer look at the students' robes told Scorpius that they would be sharing these lessons with the Slytherins. His heart sank – the Slytherin students still liked to aim barbed jibes at him for what had happened two years ago.

"Oh, hey, Slythindor!"

"Ooh, we got's the Slythindor in our class, have we?" said Helen Pelfan, a stocky Slytherin girl with short dark hair. She rubbed her hands together in glee.

"At least I can pronounce my words properly," replied Scorpius delicately. "And I use proper grammar when I speak."

Helen looked a little put out.

Scorpius smirked.

***

"Presuming you haven't all forgotten over the summer..." started Professor Hadgeso, pursing his lips as though the idea was preposterous, "I believe you are ready to start changing animals into inanimate objects."

There was a murmur of interest around the classroom.

"You will remember when you changed a beetle into a button in your first year. Well, this will be somewhat similar. The problem with animals is that they move around, meaning that it is fairly difficult to be accurate when casting your spell. Malfoy!" he suddenly barked, making Scorpius jump. Scorpius met his eyes cautiously.

"Yes, sir?"

"Go and fetch the mice from the next classroom," Professor Hadgeso commanded.

Scorpius nodded. "Yes, sir."

He stood up and quickly walked out of the room, slowing his pace as soon as he was out of the classroom. Despite the terrifying experience of being under Professor Hadgeso's steely glare, Scorpius was quite glad to be out of the classroom for a few moments.

"Mice... mice... mice..." he muttered, his eyes sweeping the classroom. "Hmm..."

"They're over in the cupboard."

A sudden voice from behind him made Scorpius whirl around. Sitting on a desk at the edge of the classroom was a girl of about fourteen or fifteen. Her inky black hair was cropped short, and it hung freely around her face. Her eyes were exactly the same colour as her hair – dark and seemingly bottomless. Her ankles were crossed and her legs swung back and forth underneath the desk.

A closer look at her robes revealed the crest of the blue eagle, telling Scorpius that she was in Ravenclaw. A ray of autumn sunlight made a shining badge on her chest flash silver.

"Who are you?" asked Scorpius, his eyebrows knitting together.

The girl jumped neatly off the desk. "I'm Lelina. Lelina Atkinson." She held out a slim hand for Scorpius to shake. Scorpius took it, but let go almost immediately.

"I'm Scorpius Malfoy," replied Scorpius politely. "Erm... if you don't mind me asking, why aren't you in lessons?"

Lelina shrugged. "Can't be bothered," she replied. "Can't sit through a whole double period of History of Magic on the first Monday back, you know what I mean?"

"So, that's it?" Scorpius quirked an eyebrow. "You're just skiving?"

"Oh, _no_." Lelina grinned, revealing white teeth. She twitched her right hand. Scorpius noticed that it had a slender wand in it. "I'm practicing for my Charms OWL. Of a fashion."

"Are you in fifth year?" asked Scorpius curiously. That was when Hogwarts students sat their OWL, after all.

Lelina nodded.

"Same year as James..." muttered Scorpius to himself. However, it seemed that Lelina had heard.

"Oh, James Potter?" Lelina gave another devious smile. Her black eyes seemed to sparkle when she did so. "A girl in my year fancies him. Can't say I blame her."

She fingered her wand, and then walked to the doorway. "See you around, Scorpius."

In another heartbeat, she was gone.


	17. Selene Q Atkinson and the Pine Marten

Chapter II - Selene Quetzelxochitl Atkinson and the Pine Marten

_'Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life sized.'__  
__- Margret Antwood_

"I met a really weird girl when I was going to get the mice for Transfiguration today," Scorpius said conversationally as he and Albus walked to their next lesson, which was their very first Care of Magical Creatures lesson. (Rose had already left for Divination, which was in the North Tower. Scorpius was glad – her stuttering and frequent blushing was continuing to get on his nerves.) Their breath billowed in front of them, as it was an unusually frosty September morning, as they walked across the grounds.

"Really?" Albus blinked, seeming surprised. "Who?"

"She said that she was called Lelina Atkinson," said Scorpius. "She was skipping her History of Magic lesson, and she told me where the mice were."

"_Ahhh_." Comprehension dawned on Albus's face. "In Ravenclaw? About fifteen?"

Scorpius nodded. "Why? Do you know her?"

"Well, not personally..." answered Albus. "We haven't even met... She's a prefect, just like James. How _James_ became a prefect I wouldn't even fathom a guess at..." he added under his breath.

Scorpius snorted. James mucked around a lot in lessons, and, as Professor Longbottom had accurately stated once, he liked 'a good laugh'. But still, he had managed to be appointed the male Gryffindor prefect, which must have shocked poor Ginny Potter. Scorpius realised that the flash of silver he had seen on Lelina's robes must have been a prefect badge, and wondered if the person who now chose the prefects was going slightly senile. He couldn't see that Lelina would make a perfect Prefect, from their brief meeting that morning.

"That would make sense..." he said thoughtfully.

"Anyway, they met on the train and started talking, since the other prefects were all apparently 'really dull'. Lelina told James some stuff about her family, and he told her stuff about his family. He mentioned me, apparently." Albus pulled a face. "He wouldn't tell me what he said about me."

"What about her family?" demanded Scorpius, feeling intrigued for no particular reason.

"Um..." Albus screwed up his face, trying to remember. "I _shouldn't_ have forgotten... James wouldn't shut up about her... Well... she has a brother in Slytherin, called Marco, or Michael, or Macaroni, or something." A look from Scorpius stopped him. "Okay, fine, so maybe his name isn't Macaroni. But I'm not so good with names. He's in fourth year now, and according to her, he's really tall. She's also got a sister in the same year as Lily and Hugo."

"Is that it?"

"Well, I don't listen to _everything_ James babbles on to me about!" Albus said indignantly. "This was last night, I don't remember that well!"

At this, their conversation was cut short as they reached Professor Hagrid's wooden hut. Most students were already gathered outside.

"Hi!"

Albus and Scorpius turned to see Lorcan hurrying towards them.

"Oh, hi, Lorcan," Scorpius greeted him. "So, I guess we're with the Ravenclaws for Care of Magical Creatures."

Lorcan laughed. It was a rather mistier laugh than Scorpius remembered of the straightforward Ravenclaw boy.

"It's only Lorcan and the Ravenclaws if Ravenclaw is the house you visualise Lorcan to be in," he whispered, tilting his dirty blonde head towards Scorpius.

And then it dawned on Scorpius, as he looked at Lorcan's robes and saw a yellow badger emblazoned there. "Lysander?"

The boy took of the pair of glasses and slipped them in his pocket. He then drew his wand and tapped his eyes, which faded quickly from grey to pale blue.

"Got you," he said softly.

Albus rolled his eyes. "Oh, very funny." He seemed a little disorientated at the sudden change from one twin to the other.

"My mother taught me and Lorcan how to change our eye colour over the summer." Lorcan gave a sudden smile. "How did you know it was me?"

"The badger." Scorpius gestured down at Lysander's front. "Plus, you're terrible at acting Lorcan. You may look identical, but you're really... not."

"Ah." Lorcan glanced down at his robes. "I knew there was _something_. I wouldn't have had time, anyway. I don't know how to do that bit yet."

"Is Professor Hagrid still teaching Care of Magical Creatures, anyway?" asked Scorpius, rubbing his hands together to warm them up.

Albus nodded. "Yeah. He's been teaching, like, _forever_, but, oh well. He started teaching when Dad was our age, so he's been teaching for..." Albus counted on his fingers. "...twenty five years. And he was sixty four when he started teaching. Which mean's he's..." He started to count on his fingers again. "Eighty nine." Albus blanched, realising what he'd just worked out. "_Wow_."

"Righ'. Welcome ter Care o' Magical Creatures."

Unbeknownst to Albus, Scorpius, and Lysander, the lesson had already started. Before they knew it, they had been shepherded along by some of the other Hufflepuffs and were set to work studying and drawing a Bowtruckle.

Scorpius gazed across the grounds. The lake was a cast iron grey colour, reflecting the heavy clouds that swarmed the skies. Down at the Herbology greenhouses, Scorpius could see some first years having their first lesson. From the colours of the hems of their robes, it was a Gryffindor and Hufflepuff lesson.

The pale faced third year identified Rose's brother, Hugo, among the throng of first years, next to Lily Potter, her vivid red hair making her easily visible. Suddenly, Scorpius felt a yearning to sprint down to the greenhouses, too. He shook himself.

His eyes roved along the row of first years, who were being lectured by Professor Longbottom before going inside the greenhouses. They were all listening attentively, save for one girl. She was actually turned the opposite way from Professor Longbottom, staring inattentively towards what had been the Forbidden Forest. (It had never been the same since it had been charged by Heliopaths two years ago – for this Scorpius felt slightly responsible.)

The girl had long, curly black hair that fell around her face and tumbled to her elbows in a rather messy mop. Her robes were rimmed with yellow, and, even from the distance, Scorpius could see that one of her socks was crumpled. But her eyes were the strangest thing – they were bright, neon blue. Unnaturally so. Scorpius wondered if she had performed the same spell that Lysander had on her eyes – but then, why bother?

She also looked oddly vacant – even more out of it than Lysander usually did. Perhaps it was a requirement of being a Hufflepuff?

At that moment, the girl stared straight at Scorpius. Scorpius blinked, quickly tearing his eyes away. Those bright blue eyes were unnerving.

He chanced a glance back after a few moments. The girl appeared to be gone. But in her place was a dark brown animal about the size of a cat. It looked a bit like a weasel. And those blue eyes looked decidedly familiar...

And, just as suddenly, the Hufflepuff girl with the blue eyes was standing exactly where the pine marten had been a few moments ago. Scorpius gaped. The girl grinned.

Scorpius turned back to his Bowtruckle.

"What's wrong?" asked Lysander. Next to the girl, Lysander looked positively sharp and alert, Scorpius thought wryly.

"Nothing," replied Scorpius. Then he remembered that Lysander was a Hufflepuff. "Well, actually, yes. See that girl down there? The first year?"

"Erm..." Lysander squinted. "The one with curly black hair?"

"That's the one," agreed Scorpius. "Do you know who she is?"

Lysander nodded. "Oh, yes. She's a new Hufflepuff, and she's quite odd."

_Bit rich coming from you,_ Scorpius wanted to say. But, wisely, he kept his mouth shut while Lysander kept talking.

"She hasn't made any friends much, yet. I know the feeling," Lysander added. "But I think it's her eyes that scare people off. They're bright blue."

"Yes, I saw." Scorpius was getting a little impatient. "So what's her name?"

"Oh, her name." Lysander nodded. "Oh, well her name is Selene Kwets-elle-ksock... Um, her middle name's really hard to pronounce. Kwets-elle-ksock-ittle. I think."

"Okay," said Scorpius, wishing that Lysander would just tell him her full name. To be honest, he wasn't all that interested in her middle name. "Tell me once more? You can forget the middle name," he added quickly.

"Oh, good." Lysander looked relieved. "Well, her name's Selene however-you-pronounce-the-middle-name Atkinson."

_Atkinson._

At this, Scorpius forgot to guard the Bowtruckle, and it slashed its long, sharp fingers across Scorpius's knuckles, leaving two large gashes. It hurt a lot, but Scorpius was much more interested in the girl.

Not only was she an Animagus at the age of eleven, but she also appeared to be Lelina Atkinson's sister.


	18. Lily Luna Potter and the Annoying Essay

Chapter III - Lily Luna Potter and the Annoying Essay

_'Man, unlike animals, has never learned that the sole purpose in life is to enjoy it.'  
- Samuel Butler_

The quiet sound of Albus's quill scratched on the piece of parchment as he crossed out yet another wrong answer. Scorpius could hear it even over the noise that the rest of the common room were making (which was saying something, as a group of overexcited second year girls - which happened to include the stunning, silvery haired Dominique - were assessing Lorcan's devoted behaviour towards the girl that day, punctured by squeals of excitement). Scorpius chanced a glance at his friend's Transfiguration homework. So far, Albus had managed to write one sentence.

_Mammals are harder to transfigure than insects because of the complicality of their bodily structure._

There were great inky marks all over the page from where Albus had crossed out his words.

"'Complicality' isn't a word," Scorpius pointed out, leaning over from his armchair.

"Well, it should be," the black haired boy muttered, stabbing the parchment with his quill again. The tip broke, spilling ink all over the table.

Albus swore loudly, causing two nearby first year girls to stare at him with round eyes. Muttering darkly, Albus screwed up the piece of parchment and lobbed it at the two girls' heads. They screamed and ducked.

"Don't take it out on them," said Scorpius reprovingly. "They were only shocked at your terrible language. And I can't say I blame them, myself - you can use appalling words at times. Not that I don't if the need arises, but that's not the point. If you're angry with your essay, just say so."

"I'm angry with my damn essay," fumed Albus. He wasn't as bubbly and cheerful as he usually was, that was for sure. But Scorpius was used to it now - a similar thing had happened on their first day of second year. Albus just seemed to metaphorically die on the first day back. The next day, he was usually fine.

It was seven o'clock. Everyone in Gryffindor was slowly filtering back into the common room from dinner in the Great Hall. The common room was now packed with students playing wizard chess, doing homework, or, in the case of Scorpius, pretending that he wasn't watching Lily Potter from across the room. Not that he was, because he most certainly wasn't.

"Where's Miss Irritating Weasley?" asked Scorpius, trying to change the subject. It worked - Albus gave a snort of derisive laughter.

"Oh, I think that she's with Lysander," he answered. "He dragged her off after dinner. Rose wasn't too happy - something about 'not actually fancying' him."

"Huh." Scorpius rested his chin in his hands broodingly. "Lysander's not the only one chasing someone who'll never like them."

Albus nodded, apparantly cheered by this discussion of Rose's love life. Or perhaps, love _problems_. "You're like, part of this huge love triangle..." He gave a grin. Once more, Scorpius wondered how Albus could possibly bounce from emotion to emotion so rapidly.

"No," corrected a disgruntled Scorpius, knowing that he had started this conversation and kicking himself for doing so. "I'd have to fancy Lysander for that. And for that I'd have to be gay. Which I'm pretty sure I'm not."

"Fine..." muttered Albus, seeming momentarily defeated. But then an idea seemed to strike him. "If _you_ fancied someone, and _they_ fancied Lysander, _then_ it'd be all perfect!"

"I'm not sure 'all perfect' is exactly the phrase I'd use..." said Scorpius, raising his eyebrows. "Maybe something more along the lines of 'tangled, complicated, and generally dead-ed'..."

"Oh, come on, don't be a spoilsport." Albus rolled his eyes. "We'll just get the person you like to be attracted to Lysander. Then it'll all work out good and I can stand back and laugh."

"Some friend you are..." mumbled Scorpius under his breath.

"Oh, come on!" whined Albus. He made puppy dog eyes at Scorpius. "Tell me who you like!"

"What about your Transfiguration essay?"

"Damn the Transfiguration essay."

_I think I preferred him angry and depressed, _thought Scorpius, feeling heat creep up his neck. _When he asks flat out like that..._

His eyes flickered to Lily for a half second. He quickly pretended that he was staring out of the window behind her.

_For Merlin's sake, I definitely can't tell him, 'cause it's his sister!_

"Who?" demanded Albus, leaning over the arm of his chair.

"You're very immature, have I told you that?"

"Yeah, yeah, been through this all before. Mind of a five year old and all that." Albus waved off the comment impatiently. "I want to _know_! _Tell _me!"

"I _can't_ tell you," replied Scorpius testily, "on the grounds that I don't like anyone at this present time."

Albus slumped back in his chair, looking astonishingly like a three year old who'd just been denyed a real treat. The sulky pout on his face was identical. "Well, that's boring."

Scorpius gave a mental sigh of relief. _Thank Merlin!_ That would have been a very sticky patch indeed.

"Wait!"

Scorpius could hear the grin in Albus's voice. His heart started thudding again. _Oh, for Merlin's sake...!_

"You're going red!" accused Albus, bouncing about in his seat. "That means you _do_ like someone!"

_Stupid pale skin... I hate having pale skin... I hate it so much..._

"Oh, come on, can't you tell your best bud?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes, trying to humour the situation and make it ridiculous. He stood up. "I'm going for a walk."

"But-"

"Can't hear you!"

"You must-"

"_Silencio_!"

Scorpius flicked his wand and some sparks shot out. Albus was hit by the Silencing Charm and fell quiet. Scorpius smiled, climbed out of the Fat Lady's portrait and sighed with relief as it swung shut. That had been a close call, and it was simply lucky that his Silencing Charm had been remembered at that moment.

_Note to self... try to get a tan._

***

Scorpius lay on his stomach by the lake in the gathering darkness, trailing his fingers in the ice cold water. It was a cloudy evening, and so it was therefore getting dark earlier than usual. Earlier than usual. Scorpius would miss the long days of summer, he realised.

As he lay there, idly thinking of nothing, he saw seven red-and-gold clad flecks rising over the Quidditch pitch. The Gryffindor Quidditch team were obviously very keen to get started with training, Scorpius thought. He felt vaguely sorry for James, who played Keeper on the team. Now that he was in his fifth year, his OWL year, he would need as much time as possible to study, but with the Quidditch team taking up so much of his time, he wouldn't get as much studying done.

Then again, James had never really been a big fan of 'working hard' as such, preferring the short-lived pleasures of larking about.

This got Scorpius thinking about larks. Poor larks, getting stuck with the phrase 'larking about'. Maybe there was some very studious lark who tried so hard to bring up the larks' reputation, but was brutally killed by someone who was, by chance, larking about.

His thoughts continued on in this vein for some time, until the darkness was starting to impair his vision. He was about to stand up, ready to go inside (it was getting quite cold, after all) but then a small, slender something with a pointed face and a bushy tail dashed across his vision.

It was a pine marten. A dark brown pine marten. And, with blue eyes like those, there was only one person it could be.

"Oh, it's you, isn't it?" Scorpius's tone was guarded.

With a faint _pop_, the pine marten grew into an eleven year old girl with curly hair.

There was silence between them for a few moments. Then Scorpius decided to speak up.

"You... you're Selene Atkinson, right?"

The girl nodded. "It's Selene Quetzelxochitl Atkinson, actually."

"Selene...?" Lysander hadn't been joking about Selene's difficult middle name.

"Quetzelxochitl. Spelt Q - U - E - T - Z - E - L - X - O - C - H - I - T - L, pronounced, kwet-zelck-ock-itl."

"And you're...?" Scorpius wanted to confirm what he had just seen.

"An Animagus?" Selene looked downright pleased that he had caught on so fast. "Yes."

"But... isn't that supposed to be really hard?" Scorpius's words tumbled out in a rush. "Are you registered? How did you learn to do it? You're only eleven!"

Selene hardly blinked. "Yes, no, and it's a long story."

Scorpius tilted his head as he tried to work out what she'd just said. When he finally got it, he said, "One that I'm prepared to listen to."

Selene half shrugged. "My sister was learning. So was my brother, Marcus. I copied them, and... that was that."

"Didn't your parents care? Isn't it supposed to be really dangerous?"

"They don't know we're Animagi," Selene explained. "And yes. But I'm still here, so there you go."

Scorpius suddenly went red, feeling that maybe he'd been too prying on their first meeting. "Sorry - I'm just curious. It's not every day you meet an eleven year old Animagus."

Selene smiled. "I don't mind."

"Um - by the way." Scorpius suddenly thought of something else. "Why... why have you told me? I mean, aren't you scared that I'm going to report you to the Ministry of Magic?"

Selene shook her head. Her mass of curly hair rustled. "No. I have a good feeling about you, Scorpius Malfoy. You'll be helpful in times to come. I can just tell."

"Oh." Scorpius was rather thrown by this peculiar prediction. "Wait - how do you know my name?"

Selene grinned. She had the same smile as her sister - Lelina's smile also exposed white teeth. "Well, everyone knows you. Everyone knows the Slythindor."

Before Scorpius could retaliate, there was a small _pop_, and the pine marten was halfway back to the castle.


	19. Rose Weasley and the Attempt

Chapter IV - Rose Weasley and the Attempt at Stopping the Crush

_'All love is unrequited. All of it.'  
- J. Michael Straczynski_

Scorpius thought about Selene for the whole of the night (well, at least, until midnight, when the Gryffindor third-years were forced to traipse up to the Astronomy Tower for their first Astronomy lesson of the year).

The next day, Scorpius headed off alone for his first Ancient Runes lesson (Albus had Muggle Studies). He was still brooding over the problem of how an eleven year old Animagus thought that he would be 'helpful in times to come'. He was still a little dubious about this - namely because he felt that he had already had his fair share of near-death experiences when flesh eating Acromantula had tried to kill him in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.

He had just reached the sixth floor corridor when he - quite literally - was not looking where he was going, and, caught up in his thoughts, bumped into Rose.

"_Ow_!" Scorpius grimaced, rubbing his head where it had clashed with Rose's. "Watch it!"

"Well maybe _you_ should look where you're-" interjected Rose furiously, but she broke off as she saw it was Scorpius. As predicted, the usual flush swept her face. "Oh."

But Scorpius was tired of this. He had thought, hoped, for one second, that they were, perhaps, going to have a long-anticipated argument, like the ones in the good days when they had hated each other. His hopes of a fight had just been dashed, however, and now they just seemed to be steamrollering on into the usual conversation that their meetings brought.

"No," said Scorpius firmly. "Don't say 'oh' like that. Say what you were going to say."

"But-"

"No, _say it_," Scorpius demanded. "You were going to shout at me and I want to hear what you were going to say."

Rose gazed at the ceiling. "Um..." she mumbled. "I was going to tell you that you should look where you're going and stop blaming people when it was really your fault."

"Shout at me," demanded Scorpius. Rose blanched, and Scorpius felt his irritation rising. "Look, Weasley, we're going to end this stupid thing once and for all. For Merlin's sake, in first year you loathed me! You made up that nickname for me! What, have you forgotten all of that? Did you think _I'd_ forget all of that?"

The embarrassed look was slowly fading from Rose's face, to be replaced by a look of slight annoyance. This was a good sign, Scorpius mused. Even some of her blush was fading.

"I'd have thought that you would at least stop holding such a petty grudge..." she said. It wasn't exactly _angry_, but the voice was definitely sounding annoyed. Scorpius would just have to push her a little bit further.

"Oh, a 'petty grudge' is it?" said Scorpius. Maybe it would be better to do the whole 'coolly aloof' bit instead of getting too worked up. "I suppose that it didn't really matter that you spread a nickname around the school that humiliates me and is still in use to this day..."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Oh, for goodness' sake, you really can't look beyond the past, can you? _Everyone_ was shocked that you ended up in Gryffindor, _someone_ was going to make up a nickname!"

Scorpius smirked. He was glad that he was a Malfoy at times, and able to act evenly in almost any situation. Turning around slowly, he began to walk away.

"Hey!" Rose's voice sounded outraged. "Don't walk away from me!"

"Sorry, but I'm going to be late for Ancient Runes."

Scorpius could hear Rose's bag hitting her shin as she ran after him. "You want me to shout at you? Fine, I'll shout at you!"

_Yes!_ thought Scorpius in his head. _Victory!_

"You were so _cocky _and _smug_ in first year, so... _above_ the rest of us, constantly putting us down with your stupid snide remarks, and then in the Forest, you were still so... so... and then you just..." She seemed to be struggling for words. "And I don't know why I even like you!"

Scorpius stared at her, his face expressionless. "Okay," he said, and began to walk away again. He was a little disappointed by the shortness of Rose's rant, but still - it was better than nothing.

"Hey!"

Scorpius felt a strong sense of déjà vu as Rose ran after him, shouting 'hey' again.

"What?" he asked. "Seriously, Professor Kiaxton is going to kill us if we're late."

Rose ignored this last statement. "Isn't this the point where you grab me by the shoulders, tell me that you've actually fancied me for ever and kiss me?" she demanded.

Scorpius raised one eyebrow. "No," he replied. "Should it be?"

"Yes!"

"Well, sorry to 'dash your dream', and all that, but..." Scorpius shrugged. He smirked. "My feelings towards you haven't changed one jot since I met you on the first day of first year, actually."

"Oh - but!" Rose looked thoroughly put out. She bit her lip. "Will you sit next to me in Ancient Runes?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes, fully expecting to say no. But then an idea struck him. Perhaps he could blackmail her out of this. "I will, if."

Rose's face fell. "There are conditions?"

"One." Scorpius smirked. "I'll sit next to you in Ancient Runes if you go out with Lysander."

Whatever Rose had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. Puzzlement coloured her features. "Lysander _Scamander_?"

"First Hogsmeade weekend. Halloween."

"But he'll be..." Rose it her lip, seeming to weigh her chances. Then she looked up, her face set. "Okay. I'll do it. _Fine_."

"Lysander will be thrilled," said Scorpius. Maybe going out with Lysander would finally make Rose realise that she should really hate Scorpius. But Scorpius hadn't expected her to actually say yes - sitting next to him in Ancient Runes was a small price to pay to get rid of the Weasley girl forever.

Scorpius checked his watch. It read quarter past nine. "We're really late," he announced, feeling slightly worried. Being quarter of an hour late on his fist ever Ancient Runes lesson wouldn't exactly put him in the golden books of Professor Kiaxton. But then, an idea striking him, he drew his wand.

Rose backed away a couple of steps, stumbling slightly on the hem of her robes. "What are you going to do?"

"We need an alibi," explained Scorpius. "Right, you fell in the lake this morning after breakfast, and I had to help you get dry. You're not completely dry yet, we apologise, and sit down. Profesor Kiaxton doesn't suspect a thing, we escape detention, and all is well."

"Okay, but I'm not sure about the getting w-"

"_Amnis Aqualis_!" interrupted Scorpius. A jet of water shot from his wand and hit Rose.

Rose shrieked.

"Shut up!" Scorpius hissed. "It's just a bit of water. _Amnis Aqualis_!"

They continued on in this way until Rose was well and truly soaked. Scorpius felt that he had had a bit too much fun fabricating the evidence (he doubted that Rose's school textbooks would have stayed _completely _dry), but he wasn't about to tell her that.

Eventually, Scorpius deemed her wet enough to look convincing. Rose threw him a death glare, but Scorpius just smirked at her sopping clothes, her hair plastered wetly to her head and above all, the way that she had let him do it without even threatening to curse him.

As they headed off to their long-delayed Ancient Runes lesson, Scorpius strayed from Rose's side and stayed a safe distance away as she squelched up the marble staircase in a soggy, undignified way.

"You're going to pay for this," she threatened. Scorpius grinned. More brownie points towards the 'hating' tactic.

"What happened to you?" Albus looked like he was trying to force a look of dismay onto his face. The result was an odd combination of a smile and a grimace. Rose could obviously tell this - she gave a huff of annoyance and flounced off in the opposite direction, scattering droplets of water all over Albus's robes.

"She fell in the lake before Ancient Runes," explained Scorpius with a grin, feeling that it would be wholeheartedly too complicated to explain what had taken place on th way to Ancient Runes.

Albus's face cracked into a beam, and he let out a shout of laughter. "Forgot how to magically dry herself off, did she?"

"I suppose so."

"Some witch she is."

The two Gryffindors started to walk down the corridor, Scorpius thinking vaguely of going to the Owlery to visit his eagle owl, Snake.

"So, how was Muggle Studies?" asked Scorpius. To him, the subject had never appealed. Just learning about Muggles doing Muggle-y things to replace magic, half of which kept breaking down and needing repairs. "Fun?"

"Well, it wasn't bad," said Albus. "Halfway through this Slytherin fourth year burst in and asked to borrow some textbooks for his lesson. He kind of had this... smirk on his face, as though..." He broke off. "I don't know, it was like he thought we were idiots for even taking Muggle Studies."

Scorpius felt uncomfortable. He couldn't help thinking that that would have been exactly _his_ reaction two years ago. But he pushed the thought away quickly.

"He was really tall," said Albus thoughtfully. "Really tall - at first I thought he was in about sixth year, until I saw that he wanted fourth year textbooks. About six three, I'd reckon."

"Hmm...?" said Scorpius, not really listening.

"Yeah..." said Albus. "And I was staring at him as he went out, and it... it was weird, because I swear I heard this popping sound when he went out of the door."

"A popping sound?" Scorpius was suddenly listening, keenly alert.

Albus nodded. "Really quiet, but..." He looked confused. "Maybe it was just my imagination."

"Did he say what his name was?"

"Erm..." Albus said. "Yes."

"What was it?" asked Scorpius, actually stopping in his haste to know.

Albus's brow furrowed. "Why? Do you know him?" he asked.

"I just thought..." Scorpius realised that he hadn't been careful enough. He didn't know why, but... he felt that he had to be wary with who he told about... "You know I always want to know when something interesting's going on," he finished lamely.

"Oh, okay." Albus seemed satisfied. "Well, he asked if he could borrow the textbooks, and the Muggle Studies professor obviously knew him - he didn't like that, you could see that he didn't like being even associated with the Muggle Studies teacher. Anyway, she said 'Certainly, Marcus.'"

_Marcus._

_"My sister was learning. So was my brother, Marcus. I copied them, and... that was that."_

So Albus had, unknowingly, met a fourteen year old Animagus.


	20. Marcus Cyril Atkinson and Eavesdropping

Chapter V - Marcus Cyril Atkinson and Eavesdropping

_'It's the way to educate your eyes. Pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You're not here long.'  
- Walker Evans_

Scorpius dragged his heavy bag back up to his dormitory, throwing it onto his bed with a _thunk_. Checking his watch (he only had five minutes until Herbology started) he quickly unzipped the bag and unpacked his Ancient Runes, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Charms textbooks. Making a mental note to start his Charms homework, which was in for the next day, Scorpius snatched up his copy of _Goshawk's Guide to Herbology_, stuffed it in his considerably lighter bag, and hurtled back downstairs, taking the stairs two at a time.

The common room was empty, save for Nathan Jitters' furry black and white cat, Terry. Terry looked up at Scorpius with green eyes and gave a mew.

"Not now, Terry, I'm late," muttered Scorpius, swiftly maneuvering the haphazardly placed armchairs and scrambling through the portrait hole.

Scorpius was only glad that it was Professor Longbottom's class that he was late for. Such a mistake would not have been overlooked by a stricter teacher like the Transfiguration professor, but Scorpius was confident that Professor Longbottom would be more forgiving.

However, it was when he heard a voice through a half open door when he had nearly reached the Grand Staircase that he stopped, with all thoughts of lateness and of Herbology fleeing his mind. He wouldn't have stopped if he hadn't known the voices. And he wouldn't of stopped if he hadn't wondered why Selene sounded so scared.

Scorpius crept up to the door, which was open a sliver. Voices floated out of it. Without putting his head around the door, Scorpius stood and listened.

"Look, Lelina, why won't you tell me?" Selene's voice sounded a mile away from her usual dreamy self - there was a definite desperate edge to it.

"Because it's too 'top secret'." Lelina's voice was hard, sarcastic. Scorpius could just imagine her what her dark eyes would look like - unrelenting as black diamonds.

"Really?" Selene sounded like she believed her sister in every essential.

"No, you _twit_," Lelina growled. "They _are_ our real parents."

"No, they're not," argued Selene. "Look at us! We're paler than even the Malfoys-" Scorpius shrank back further against the door, "-and our hair is so dark you can't even tell where one strand ends and the next begins! But yet our 'parents' have white blonde hair and they're really tanned!"

"Recessive genes," growled another, more masculine voice. Scorpius deducted that this must be Marcus.

"Stop it!" cried Selene. "You both think I'm stupid, but I'm old enough to realise that something's happened to our real parents!" There was a tiny _pop_, and Scorpius guessed that Selene had transformed.

"Selene, we're talking to you!" shouted Lelina, sounding outraged. "Don't transform on us!"

There was another _pop_, and Selene's voice could be heard in the room again. "I've told someone about us, you know." Her voice shook.

There was a stifled gasp within the room.

"You didn't." Marcus's voice was equally shaky.

"I did," replied Selene boldly. "He can help us. He'll help me."

"Who?" Scorpius could just imagine Lelina grabbing Selene by the shoulders. "Who did you tell?"

By the sounds of it, Selene didn't even flinch. "Scorpius Malfoy."

Scorpius wanted to faint.

There was a tiny _pop_ amidst a roar of rage from Marcus. The door banged open and Scorpius hid himself behind it, hoping and praying that he wouldn't be seen. A pine marten with blue eyes ran out. It stood on its hind legs, sniffed the air, and glimpsed Scorpius.

Scorpius shook his head rapidly. _Don't give me away!_ he pleaded silently. The Selene-animal gave him a tiny wink, dropped down onto all fours, and dashed away in the opposite direction.

Two seconds later, Lelina and a fourth year who was predictably Marcus hared out of the room. Albus hadn't been exaggerating over his height - Marcus towered over his older sister, his black hair falling into his equally dark eyes.

"Come on," he growled to Lelina. "We have to find this Malfoy kid."

"I've met him," said Lelina grimly. Lelina's back was to Scorpius, but he could guess that her black eyes would be burning. There was a small _pop_, and standing where Lelina had just been was a sandy coloured fox with a bushy, plumed tail. The fox also had a silvery grey tint to its thick fur.

"Good idea," said Marcus. In another second, he had also transformed into a small bear (it was smaller than Marcus had been - only about five feet, Scorpius guessed) with black fur. The bear had a golden stripe just below its neck.

The two animals were gone in another two seconds. As the sound of their footsteps gradually died away, Scorpius slid cautiously out of his hiding place. His heart was thudding. He had seen the Atkinson siblings, confirmed that they were all Animagi, and learned that their parents were possibly _not_ their parents. Well, that was what Selene had thought, anyway, and of the little Scorpius had seen of Selene, he could tell that she was an accurate guesser.

But what confused him the most was her attitude. Instead of her usual demeanour (which was normally more absent minded and vague than Lysander) Selene had argued fiercely and stood up to her brother and sister. So was her normal manner simply a façade to lure everyone into thinking that she was some scatterbrained individual?

At that moment, the bell rang.

Scorpius was late for Herbology.

***

"Do teachers take _delight_ in setting us impossible amounts of homework?" asked a weary Albus as the third years traipsed out of greenhouse three after an hour of harvesting Puffapods. "Tonight, I've got to research Puffapods, practice Cheering Charms, do an essay for Transfiguration, and finish that drawing of a Bowtruckle for Hagrid!"

Professor Longbottom came out of the greenhouse, apparantly having been listening, and pretended to cuff Albus over the head. "It's called _learning_," he explained. "You do want to pass your OWLs, don't you?"

"But they're not for two years!"

Professor Longbottom rolled his eyes. "Albus, you remind me of your Uncle Ron so much."

Albus looked highly insulted. "That's an insulsationism!"

"Insulsationism isn't a word, genius." Scorpius rolled his eyes. However, his mind was still on Selene and her siblings, and he had half an eye out for a small black bear and a yellowish silver fox (though it was highly unlikely that they would have transformed in broad daylight with everyone watching).

"Like I've stated for some other words before - it should be!" Albus countered.

"Please don't go all 'babble' on me."

"Hey, that reminds me..." said Albus, as they walked away from the greenhouses. "Have you ever heard Lorcan seriously technobabble?"

"_Technobabble_?" Scorpius raised one eyebrow. "What the hell?"

"Seriously! He just spews out all these nonsensical facts..." Albus said.

"That's not technobabble," corrected Scorpius. "Technobabble's basically computer speak."

"Maybe it's medicobabble..." Scorpius had a vague feeling that Albus wasn't talking to him anymore. "Actually, just babble in general. Legalbabble. Psychobabble. Caffeineobabble."

Scorpius gave him a look.

"Okay, so I made the last one up."

Scorpius laughed. Maybe Albus didn't need to know about the crazy problems of Selene and co. after all.


	21. Selene Q Atkinson and Explanations

Chapter VI - Selene Quetzelxochitl Atkinson and Explanations

_'The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it.'  
- Mark Twain_

"Homework - write five more sentences in runic using the first nine letters. Next week we will move onto the next nine."

Scorpius grabbed his quill and scrawled on his hand _five sentences runes_. Then he threw his Ancient Runes book into his bag and slung it onto his back.

"Class dismissed!" called Professor Nilbab, who was scratching out a wrong answer on some student's homework, her eyes focused on the work in front of her.

True to his word, Scorpius had grudgingly agreed to sit next to Rose in Ancient Runes. (Much to his disgruntlement, the teacher had then told them that they would be staying in those seats for the rest of the year.) However, Rose had still not asked Lysander to go to Hogsmeade with her (well, to the best of Scorpius's knowledge, anyway) and now that it was over a month into the start of term, Halloween was fast approaching.

"So," said Scorpius casually to Rose, as they walked out of Ancient Runes. She had apparantly got over Scorpius's pretence at pushing her into the lake - she flushed.

"Yes?" she asked tentatively.

"Have you asked Lysander yet?" No point beating about the bush, Scorpius reasoned.

"Um... yes." Rose averted her eyes from Scorpius's. "Of course I-"

"You haven't, have you?"

"No."

"Well, go on!" Scorpius gave Rose a tiny push. "I'm not going to hold up my side of the deal if you don't hold up yours!" He didn't mention that he wouldn't be able to move seats anyway, because of Professor Nilbab's seating plan. But from the worried expression on Rose's face, Scorpius could tell that, for all Rose's cleverness, she had not seen through him.

"Oh." Her face had fallen. She nibbled her lip. "What lesson did he just have?"

Pleased that he'd managed to trigger such an immediate reaction out of Rose, Scorpius said, "Muggle Studies, same room as Al. 'Cause I'm sad enough to have memorised everyone's timetables," he added, with half a smile.

Rose blinked slowly. "I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you, Scorpius Malfoy. Slythindor," she added shyly, before speeding off in the opposite direction. And Scorpius could have sworn that she had _winked_ at him.

His mood entirely changed, Scorpius let out an annoyed huff. "Damn it." The shy evasive thing wasn't working, so obviously Rose was trying a different tactic - flirting.

And inexperienced flirting at that.

Scorpius stomped away down the corridor, hoping against hope that Lysander would manage to change Rose's mind. They were both persistent, Scorpius would give them that. Lysander had been chasing after an oblivious Rose for the last two years.

It was at that moment Scorpius realised that the corridor he was in was deserted. It only took another moment for him to realise that this was a mistake. But it was only in that second that a shouted spell hit him and he fell to the ground, unmoving.

Feeling idiotic, Scorpius cursed himself for letting his guard down. To be honest, Scorpius hadn't seen hide nor hair of Lelina, Marcus, or Selene - or any of their Animagus forms - for the past month, resulting in the fact that he had put the matter to the back of his mind.

If only the back of his mind were a little less secure, maybe Scorpius wouldn't be lying, immobile, subjected to the Full Body Bind, while a fifteen year old girl and a fourteen year old boy carried him to an abandoned classroom Merlin knew where.

***

"_What did she tell you_?" Lelina glowered at Scorpius, her black eyes deathly, while Marcus brooded in the background, eyes equally dark.

"Only that you were Animagi," Scorpius assured them. Free of the Body Bind curse, Scorpius was choosing to celebrate the use of his limbs by backing towards the door. However, Marcus seemed to have noticed his subtle escapade attempts. The dark haired fourth year shot across the room, transforming into a bear mid leap. The Marcus-bear blocked the door, growling menacingly.

Scorpius gulped.

"So..." He laughed nervously - even though the bear was slightly shorter than him, it wasn't much comfort when confronted with those razor sharp teeth. "What type of bear are you?"

"He's a sun bear," said Lelina, a note of irritation in her voice, as though she couldn't imagine why anyone wouldn't know a sun bear when they saw it. "And I'm a corsac fox - but that's not the point. The point is, you're in now, and we need to know that we can trust y-"

She was stopped as the door opened with a loud bang.

"There you are!" It was Selene. She looked vaguely harassed - her hair was all over her face and her luminous blue eyes were wild. There was a piece of weathered parchment screwed up in the palm of her right hand.

"What is it?" Scorpius wasn't surprised that Selene flinched - Lelina's tone was hard and agressive.

"I..." Selene gulped. "I know who our real parents are."

Scorpius felt as though he had just evaporated - the other three didn't seem to notice that he was there any more. The logical part of his mind kept telling him that the door was open, he could escape... but he didn't.

The Marcus-bear turned human again. The tension in the room was incredible - Lelina's expression was unreadable, but a palpable cloud of excitement was spreading from Selene to her brother.

Abandoning all pretence that the adults they were living with were their biological parents, Marcus took a keen step forward. "Who?" His voice was restrained, but held a definite edge of longing.

Scorpius glanced at Lelina. To his shock, tears gleamed at the corners of her eyes as she stared at Selene. Her eyes were not only full of tears that threatened to fall, but they were glassy, too.

Selene closed her eyes, raising her thumb to nibble at a hangnail nervously. Then, without opening her eyes, she barely parted her lips and whispered, "Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange."

In any other situation, Marcus's reaction would have been comical - his eyes bulged out of his head, making him look like a bug eyed frog for a moment, before he clutched at the ajar door. In another three seconds he had transformed into a sun bear and back again.

Scorpius chanced another glance at Lelina. Her expression had not changed, but her eyes were still glazed with still tears.

Selene's eyes were still shut. Scorpius could imagine that she wanted to stifle her own tears.

Meanwhile, Scorpius's own head was spinning. If Bellatrix Lestrange was really their mother... Bellatrix Lestrange was Scorpius's great aunt... so Lelina, Marcus, and Selene... would be related to him.

"Is there... more?" Marcus's voice was hoarse. Selene's eyes fluttered open, and she looked at her brother, looking relatively composed.

"Yes," she whispered. "Bellatrix... didn't die in the Great Battle of Hogwarts. She must have faked her own death. She and her husband - Rodolphus - then fled, apparantly. They quietly moved to Muggle London to escape being captured by the Ministry of Magic - it must have been torture for Bellatrix, she couldn't stand Muggles. And then... then..." Selene blinked furiously a few times. "When I was only just born, a passing wizard recognised her. And they told the Ministry. And... our mother and father blasted half the house to try and escape. They didn't care what became of us, I don't think. They didn't escape, they were thrown in Azkaban - but we were found in the rubble later and put up for adoption."

Scorpius was staring at Lelina. A single tear escaped her closed eyelids. It clung to her eyelashes for a second before sliding down her face. She rubbed it away furiously, swinging her thin black hair over her shoulder.

And, finally, she spoke. "How did you know?"

Selene found the tact not to ask Lelina why she hadn't told her before. She gestured towards the parchment in her hand. "Mr Jitters. The wizard who witnessed it and called the Ministry. He recognised us at Platform Nine and Three Quarters and sent an owl to me."

Marcus grabbed the letter and scanned through it swiftly. Then he looked up at Lelina. "We need to find them."

"But they're..." Scorpius started to say awkwardly, but he trailed off. He was about to say '_But they're in Azkaban_' but he changed his mind at the last minute - that wouldn't be at all tactful. And he was starting to feel like part of the wall - all three siblings had ignored his comment.

"He's right, Lelina," Selene said, an edge of desperation entering her voice. But Lelina screwed up her eyes and looked away.

"I... I need..." Her voice was tight and restrained. "I need some time... to think." Without waiting for a reply, she transformed into the sandy coloured fox and dashed out of the classroom, not a thought given to what anyone would think if they saw a fox come out of a room.

But now Selene was turning to Scorpius. "Scorpius," she said. "Please, please, please come with us." Her bright blue eyes were pleading. "Scorpius, I think this is your usefulness that I felt when I first met you. It's..." She broke off. "I don't know."

Marcus nodded. "I wouldn't normally say it," he said, his voice gruff, "but... I think I agree. We'll wait for you outside Hagrid's hut, okay?" He glanced over at Selene for approval.

"Yes." With a small smile, Selene transformed into a pine marten and leaped lightly out of the window. Changing himself into a sun bear, Marcus followed suit.

Scorpius leaned against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor, burying his head in his hands. "Oh, why isn't my life normal?" he moaned, to no one in particular. "I'm a good person!"


	22. Lily Luna Potter and Floo Powder

Chapter VII - Lily Luna Potter and Floo Powder

_'All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.'  
- Martin Buber_

It was less than five minutes later that Scorpius saw the shadow of a hand being cast on the bit of wall he could see from his position. A second later, he realised what had happened.

"Al." He raised his voice in a warning tone. "I know you're there."

There were the sounds of a small scuffling.

"That was you!"

"No, it was you!"

"There's _two _of you?" Scorpius took the door handle and opened the door, his forehead creasing in confusion. Albus looked sheepish - he bit his lip as Scorpius stared at him from where he was on the floor - and that was when Scorpius saw who he was with.

"Hugo?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows as he saw Rose's brown haired brother crouching against the wall, alongside a certain red headed someone. "Lily?" Scorpius averted his grey eyes from Lily's brown ones, not wanting to embarrass himself, and saw the final member of the group. "Lysander?"

_Isn't Rose supposed to be with him...? _For a moment, Scorpius feared that Rose had lied to him about going to find Lysander, before Lysander blinked and his eyes slowly faded to grey. He slipped on a pair of glasses.

"Oh. Lorcan."

"Right again." Lorcan blinked, looking more than distinctly sheepish. "So..."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Why were you listening?"

"Well, we were curious about where you'd scarpered off to!" said Albus defensively.

"I didn't scarper off!" objected Scorpius. "I was kidnapped!"

"Okay, I wouldn't have believed that ten minutes ago, but now..." Lily tailed off, gazing down the corridor at where the Lelina-fox had disappeared. "She's an Animagus, isn't she?"

Scorpius gave a short nod. "I..." he gazed awkwardly back into the room. "I have to go." Selene and Marcus would be waiting for them. He couldn't forsake them, though he barely knew them. In addition, he knew that he would be jiggling impatiently for the rest of the week if he didn't go.

"We won't," Hugo assured him. Relieved, Scorpius made for the door, but froze as Hugo continued. "Because we're coming with you."

"Oh, _no_." Scorpius closed his eyes and groaned. He had hoped that he would have been able to get away without this whole 'we're going to help you' hero talk. "Please, just don't go there."

"You didn't expect us to ask to come with you? After we all heard _that_?" Albus gestured towards the empty classroom.

"We're coming," agreed Lily simply. Her face was set, and her brown eyes burned. Scorpius forced himself not to get dragged into them, and fought to remain focused.

He couldn't argue with Lily. Not Lily _Potter_...

"Fine." Scorpius exhaled loudly through his nose. "Oh, _fine_... But don't blame me if one of you gets... killed, or..." There was a nasty silence as they all contemplated this. Scorpius wished that he hadn't spoken at all.

"Excellent!" interrupted Lorcan briskly, breaking the quiet that had filled the corridor. "Shall we go, then?"

"Wait." Scorpius stopped him. "What about Lysander and Rose? Why aren't they here?"

Albus pulled a face. "_We-ell_." He threw his arms down at his sides. "When me and Lysander came out of Muggle Studies-"

"And me," Lorcan chipped in.

"Yes, and you too." Albus brushed the comment away. "When we got out, Rose... well, it was the weirdest thing, 'cause she came rushing up to Lysander and asked him - really fast, I could barely catch what she was saying - if he wanted to go to Hogsmeade with her. And then..." Albus left the sentence hanging, leaving the rest up to Scorpius's imagination.

"Oh, Merlin." Scorpius snickered.

"Then me and Hugo came past." Lily was grinning. "That was quite funny."

"No, it wasn't!" Hugo argued, pouting. "Imagine how _you'd_ feel if you saw one of your brothers kissing someone in public."

Lily laughed. "Um, yeah..." she agreed. "Al - never do that."

Albus placed a fist to his heart. "I solemnly swear that I will never start snogging someone in front of you." His lips twitched, as though he were hiding a smile.

"It was funny, though." Lorcan's mouth turned upwards in a smile of his own. "Rose and Lysander didn't seem to care that we were all watching..."

"Well, at least that's got her out from under my feet," Scorpius joked, very pleased with his input into the situation.

"So, they won't be coming, I'm guessing," Albus finished.

"Well done. Finally realised that one, have you?" Lily rolled her eyes. But there was a pause as they remembered what they were going to do, and all the lighthearted humour left the situation. Scorpius felt tense - the wizard prison wasn't anywhere someone would go voluntarily, yet all five of them (he didn't count Marcus and Selene) were going to do just that.

"Shall we go, then?" asked Lorcan again. But this time his voice wasn't even falsely cheerful - it was tentative and full of fear.

And, with a silent nod from Scorpius, the group left the corridor for Hagrid's hut.

***

"Oh, you..." Selene struggled for words as her eyes roved the troupe. "You've got some... friends."

Scorpius nodded. "Sorry about this, but they listened in on us, and now they won't go away. They heard _everything_," he added, meaning that they knew that the siblings were Animagi. Selene's eyes widened in shock.

"Oi!" interjected Hugo. "Stop talking about us as if we're not here!"

"As you can see, they're very persistant." Scorpius gave a smirk.

"Well, we can't _all_-"

"I think we should." Marcus's gruff voice cut over Selene's. He looked at his sister. "Come on, we've got enough Floo powder, haven't we? And surely it's better to have more people? Then we'll stand more chance of fighting off the Dementors."

Selene shuddered as Marcus mentioned the faceless, soul sucking fiends that guarded Azkaban. "I suppose," she gave in. She fingered her bulging pocket, which was predictably filled with Floo powder.

"Oh, are we getting there by using Floo powder?" asked Lorcan, sounding interested. "Where did you get it?"

"Stole some from Professor Craft's office." For the first time, Selene grinned. "When you can turn into a pine marten, it's much easier on the 'stealing' front."

Hugo looked slightly disapproving. "I'm not sure that's right."

Selene's voice rose. "I need to find my mother and father!" she said passionately. "The damn Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher won't mind a bit of powdery stuff missing!"

Hugo cowered under her glaring, bright blue stare. "Okay, okay!"

Selene swore under her breath. Scorpius realised how close she was to cracking under the strain of realising that she wasn't Selene Atkinson at all - she was Selene Lestrange. He had never heard a first year girl swear before.

"Which fire are we using?" he asked, trying to change the subject. It seemed to work - Selene looked slightly calmer.

"The one in the Gryffindor common room," she said. "It'll be tough sneaking me and Marcus in there, but I can go in as a pine marten - I could fit in someone's pocket - and Marcus and Lorcan-"

"I'll be fine," Marcus assured his sister. It was strange - his gravely voice actually sounded remotely caring. "Who would dare approach me?"

The fact that Marcus was several inches over six feet tall made Scorpius admit that he was right. "After all, it's not against the rules for students to visit each others' common rooms, is it?"

***

"Damn it." Scorpius sighed. Apparantly, it _was_ against the school rules for students to visit each others' common rooms. No sooner had they entered the portrait of the Fat Lady - Selene the pine marten resting in Lily's pocket - the female Gryffindor prefect, Rachel Smith, had hurried over to them, hands on hips, given them a five minute lecture, docked five points from Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw respectively, and sent Marcus and Lorcan away with a flea in their ears.

This had all left Scorpius wishing that Rachel Smith had not been born so bossy.

"What are we going to do now?" Scorpius muttered in Albus's ear, feeling most uncomfortable under the scrutiny of almost every Gryffindor presently in the common room, which happened to include a group of wide eyed first years. "Oh, go away," he snapped at them. "It's rude to stare." They quickly scattered, chattering nervously.

"We'll have to wait until they've all gone to bed," Albus whispered back. "That's the only time we'll get to use the fire."

Albus and Scorpius quickly mumbled the message to Hugo, who relayed it to Lily. Lily then offered the tale to Selene, who was still residing in her pocket as a pine marten. This earned her some strange looks from a group of fourth years who were sitting in armchairs near her, and Lily blushed.

The next few hours were agony. Even though they would have to get up early the next day, the Gryffindors still liked to stay up quite late, playing wizard chess or doing homework, or even simply chatting. Scorpius couldn't image what it must have been like for Selene, stuck in Lily's stuffy pocket (though, he thought guiltily to himself, he wouldn't say no to taking her place).

At eleven thirty, there were still people scattered around in the common room, although they were yawning. This made Scorpius yawn, too.

"When are they going to _bed_?" he moaned quietly to Albus.

"I don't know," answered Albus in a tired voice, as though he had heard Scorpius complaining about this many times before (which, in fact, he had, but Scorpius wasn't going to admit that).

"Oh, so helpful," Scorpius huffed, resting his elbows on his knees and putting his chin in his hands.

Albus didn't answer. Scorpius couldn't blame him.

At quarter past midnight, the last two sixth years finally retired, stretching and yawning, to their dormitory. One of them eyed Scorpius, Albus, Lily, and Hugo suspiciously – they were all staring at the two of them, urging them silently to walk up the stairs faster...

As soon as their dormitory door slammed shut, Scorpius jumped up, all his sleepiness deserting him.

"Right, we've got to go," he said urgently. "We'll have lost a lot of time waiting for everyone – not that we were on a time schedule, but still – and Azkaban will be much... more menacing at night. Plus, thanks to Rachel Smith," Scorpius grimaced, "we've lost two of our team members."

Selene jumped out of Lily's pocket, transforming back into herself as she did so.

"I agree," she nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out some silvery powder with the consistency of sand. "Here – it's the Floo powder. Just throw some in the fire and shout 'Azkaban prison' and you'll be there before you know it."

"I know how to use it," grumbled Lily. She swiped a pinch into her hand and threw it into the dimly burning remains of the fire. At once, the fire roared up, the flames emerald green. "Azkaban prison!" Lily shouted, stepping in the fire. There was a _whoosh_, and Lily zipped out of sight.

Hugo was next. "Sorry," he muttered to Selene. "She gets grumpy from lack of sleep." Throwing his own Floo powder into the fire and stepping into the flames, he disappeared, too.

Albus followed Hugo, until only Selene and Scorpius were left.

"After you," Selene smiled, holding out the handful of Floo powder.

Scorpius accepted it, but before he dropped it in the fire, he turned back. "So, was the whole 'mystical' act just that – an act?" he asked curiously.

Selene grinned. "Can't be too careful."


	23. Selene Q Lestrange and an Explanation

Chapter VIII – Selene Quetzelxochitl Lestrange and an Explanation

_'__Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.'  
- Germaine Greer_

_Whoosh_. Scorpius saw the flames flickering in front of his eyes, feeling warm for a second before an overwhelming coldness spread throughout his limbs. Shivering, he remembered to tuck his arms in. He felt for his wand, squeezing it tightly through his pocket, a sense of more protection sweeping him.

A second later, Scorpius had rolled head first out of a dully gleaming fire place and landed on hard rock. He stood up, dusting himself off. A freezing wave lapped over Scorpius's feet. The cold went through his socks.

The fire place was obviously just used so that people could travel to and from this place. The embers were barely glowing red, now that the green flames that Scorpius had travelled by had disappeared.

The island was small, made of rock, and damp where the iron grey sea slapped relentlessly against it. Scorpius felt chilled to his core.

"Where are the prison cells?" His voice was almost immediately swallowed up by the roaring of the sea.

A small voice sounded at his right elbow. It was Hugo.

"I think they're over there," he whispered, pointing towards where a point tapered off into what looked like a sheer cliff. "They give us a chance to cast our Patronuses before we face the Dementors."

Scorpius gave another shiver, and this one had nothing to do with coldness. The Dementors of Azkaban were not beings that anyone particularly wanted to face - especially at night.

"But I can't cast a Patronus," replied Scorpius, suddenly panicky. "That's NEWT level, that is."

"I can't either." Hugo's voice sounded timid. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, where are the others?" Before the real sense of panic could take hold of him, Scorpius let the logical side of his mind take over.

"We're here." Albus was huddled into a crevice, trembling. "I'm not sure I'm too keen on meeting the Dementors," he mumbled.

"Well, shall we light our wands? Lumos." This time it was Lily who spoke. A small circle of light fell on the ground, illuminating Lily's feet. She was only a couple of metres away from her brother. Seeing the little yellow patch on the ground made Scorpius feel instantly cheered. It had been like that the last time he had been somewhere dark and free of hope, he remembered - when he had taken that trek into the Forbidden Forest as a first year.

"Lumos," he muttered. His own sphere of wand light lit the ground alongside Lily's.

"Lumos." Hugo lit his own wand, giving a sharp flick with his wrist.

"Lumos." This time it was another voice who had spoken. Scorpius whipped around, his heart racing, until he saw that it was just Selene. The emerald flames of the fire died down quickly behind her.

"Selene?" Scorpius looked at her tentatively. He knew that her nerves were stretched to breaking point, and the loss of both her brother and her sister might have caused her to lose heart. But her face looked set.

"Right, let's go."

"Wait! What about the... Dementors?" Albus mouthed the word, as though afraid that it was tabooed.

"I can cast a Patronus," said Selene impatiently.

Scorpius gaped, his jaw hanging open. "You wha...?"

"A fully formed Patronus?" asked Hugo, looking slightly sceptical.

"Yes, yes, I can." Selene waved away Scorpius's comment, but Scorpius knew that he wasn't going to let it lie this time. She was an Animagus and she could cast a corporal Patronus. And she was only eleven.

"How?"

Selene cast a slightly longing look at the cells of Azkaban behind her, but then she turned and sat down on a bit of rock that jutted out above the normal level. "It's... complicated."

Lily stepped forward. "We need to know," she said. "You can't sit there and tell us that it's normal for eleven year old witches to be Patronus casting Animagi."

"No, no, you're right, it's not." Selene's bright blue eyes, almost glowing in the dark, were downcast. "Listen, it's... Well, my sister, she..."

"What happened?" Scorpius didn't care about breaking her nerves now - they were about to find answers, and he wanted them.

"Okay. Okay. I'll... I'll tell you." Selene bit her lip. "Lelina's going to kill me when she finds out I've told you, but... She murdered me anyway over the whole 'telling you we're Animagi' thing. Anyway... Lelina always had these weird sort of... well, _powers_."

"Powers." Lily looked highly sceptical. "This sounds like one of those really, really bad mystery adventure movies. But, go on." She raised her eyebrows, as though daring Selene to challenge her.

Selene looked earnest. "No, I'm telling the truth," she insisted. "I remember - when I was four and she was eight, her skills as a witch were always really highly developed. You know how you start displaying magical skills at the age of about nine, ten-ish, right?"

Hugo nodded silently.

"Well, Lelina's started much earlier than that. When she was about... Well, as long ago as I can remember." Selene sighed. "It all started with that_ fight_..."

"What fight?" asked Albus.

"Well, our parents - well, as I know now, they're not really our parents, but you know what I mean - they were studying in the house. We were living in Ireland at the time. So, Selene, Marcus and I decided to go exploring. We found these... rocks on the beach. We lived near the water, you see. Anyway... I wanted to go down there, but Lelina said that she had a bad feeling about it. Like, a really, really bad feeling. Being four, I wasn't going to listen. So I went down there anyway. And then I found this weird... this pool. It felt like it was... calling me. And Marcus said it felt like that for him, too, but Lelina kept telling us to come back. I turned to tell her we were fine, slipped, and..." Selene winced. "I fell in the pool."

Hugo's eyes were wide. "What happened then?"

"Well, as I fell, I caught Marcus's shirt to try and balance me, but he ended up falling in, too. Lelina's magical skills were already developing - like I said, it started really early and powerfully for her - so she dived in, trying to save us. And then... in the water, I turned into a pine marten, Lelina turned into a corsac wolf, and Marcus turned into a sun bear. We were terrified. But then we found that we could turn ourselves back whenever we wanted. No different than Animagi, really. So, we went back home, secretly quite pleased, but then on the night of the half moon, we all turned into our animals. I... don't remember what happened. It was..." Selene covered her mouth and nose with her hands. In a rather more muffled tone, she continued, "I mean, I couldn't have done that much damage, 'cause I was only a pine marten. But every half moon since then, it's happened..."

"So..." Lily tailed off, shuffling her feet in an embarrassed manner.

"After that we could transform at will, and everything. We could also produce perfect Patronus's - not that I've tried in front of Dementors," Selene admitted. "But we're dangerous at the half moon. It's like... I've heard of werewolves, but never were-_pine martens_. Or were-_bears_. Or were-_foxes_. I don't even know if the Wolfsbane Potion would work on us."

After this long speech, Selene gave a weak smile.

"So, that's my stupidly complicated history," she joked. She stood up. "Well, now, let's go find my parents."


	24. James Sirius Potter and the Talk

Chapter IX – James Sirius Potter and the Talk

_'When you don't know what you're talking about, it's hard to know when you're finished.'  
- Tommy Smothers_

Lelina watched through the window as her brother and sister talked urgently to Scorpius. They then quickly transformed (Lelina would have been annoyed at them from transforming so publicly, but since she was at present a corsac fox she thought that it would have been a bit more that slightly hypocritical) and leaped lightly out of the window.

The corsac fox was sitting at the side of the lake. Lelina was pleased with herself – she was out of sight of any passing students, but she could still see what was going on. However, this was the only, brief joy she felt. The rest of her was miserable, confused, and somewhat angry.

She had known that her parents weren't her real parents, of course. Despite only being four years old at the time, it wasn't something she was likely to forget easily. The rubble everywhere... her mother's rough hands as she shoved Lelina away... the last glimpse of Bellatrix's black hair, spiky and wild around her head as she and Rodolphus fled. They must have completely forgotten to Disapparate, Lelina thought, as she didn't remember them doing that at all, only running, running... and the Ministry chasing them. And catching them after less than a few feet.

And the furious, furious expression on Bellatrix's face.

As though it were all Lelina's fault for hindering her escape by those crucial few seconds.

If Lelina had been human, she would have shed a tear. As it was, foxes didn't have tear ducts, so she couldn't physically cry. But it was all Lelina could do to stop herself from howling pitifully.

And now Selene and Marcus wanted to go to Azkaban and find Bellatrix and Rodolphus. Well, in all honesty, Lelina _should_ have really told them earlier... but she couldn't bear to break their circle of innocence. Well, Marcus knew... of a fashion. But he didn't know that Lelina had known who their real parents were. But, didn't Selene and Marcus _know _that Azkaban was truly terrible? Didn't they _realise_ that to go there was as bad as willingly offering your soul to the devil?

And the half moon was approaching. If that Scorpius kid found out any more, he could quite simply go and turn them in to the Ministry. As it was, he already thought that the three of them were unregistered Animagi... and that was bad enough. If he knew that Lelina was... a _were_-fox, of sorts... Lelina was already waiting for him to crack under the strain of their crazy, unbalanced life.

Lelina stared at her reflection in the deep water. A sandy coloured corsac fox stared back at her, a hint of steely grey colouring her fur. Evening was falling, tinging the sky – and its reflection in the lake – a soft pink.

"Lelina."

Lelina's heart almost stopped – reacting on instinct, she dived into a bush, transformed, and then emerged again. James was sitting on the edge of the water. His shoes were beside him, and his toes were trailing in the water – he'd obviously been there a while, without Lelina noticing.

"Uhhh... there was a fox," Lelina stuttered. "It went... that way..." She pointed vaguely back into the bush.

James smiled. "Oh, come on, don't act like it wasn't you." His brown eyes were warm.

Lelina went red. "Um..."

James rolled his eyes. He leaned towards her without taking his feet out of the water. They must have been numb with cold, Lelina thought. "Come _on_." He drew out the last word, sounding remarkably like a whiny toddler. "Admit it!"

Lelina averted her eyes and sat down. "How did you know it was me?"

"It was pretty obvious," James admitted. "You've got exactly the same eyes."

Lelina could think of no answer to this, so she kept quiet.

"You're an Animagus, then?" asked James, after a few moments.

"Guess so." The easy lie slid out of Lelina's mouth, as it always did when someone confronted her about being able to shape shift into an animal.

"That's pretty cool," said James. "How did you learn?"

Lelina clenched her hands into fists and folded her arms tightly into her stomach, trying to pretend that the action was purely because she was cold. This was the question, the one she couldn't avoid. But there was something so... _likeable_ about James. In the middle of her sort of half shrug, words that she had never meant to say started spilling out of her mouth.

"Okay, so I'm not really an Animagus," she said quickly, unfolding her arms and pressing her palms onto the cold, damp ground. Before she knew it, in less than five minutes she had rattled out the entire story – about how she and her siblings had found the pool, about the half moon, about the Patronuses and the shape shifting... even about the revelation that Selene and Marcus had finally discovered who their true, biological parents were.

For a few seconds after this outburst, James sat in stunned silence. Lelina pressed her hands over her mouth – he was going to go to the Ministry, and they were all going to get shut up by some department – probably the Department of Magical Freaks, or something, and...

"That must be annoying for you." James's voice sounded perfectly cheerful.

Now it was Lelina's turn to be stunned. She had just revealed her whole insane and generally upside down life to him – which she had never, ever done to anyone before – and all he could say was that it must be annoying? "_Annoying_?"

"Well, yeah." James gazed down at the water. "Obviously, you didn't want Marcus or Selene to know, so it must have been annoying that they finally found out. Oh, and the whole were-fox thing. That would also be an added irritation."

Again, Lelina could think of no answer, so she just sat, gaping, for a second. Then, far too late, she came up with a comeback.

"Your _face_ is annoying," she mumbled.

James chuckled. "Shut up," he teased.

He was so adaptable, Lelina marvelled. He didn't seem to mind in the slightest that she was at least partially mad. "Make me," she retorted in a playful tone. She reached out and hit him on the shoulder. Her hand lingered there for longer than it should have. Both she and James stared at it.

And then, out of the blue, James swore. "This is going to get stupidly fluffy and romantic, isn't it?" he said. "Until we're gagging at the sweetness, because honey will practically be dripping out of our mouths."

Lelina quickly withdrew her hand from James's shoulder, colouring up bright red.

James sighed. His feet were still in the water. "You know what?" he said. "You know what? Forget this. Screw it." He grabbed Lelina by the shoulders.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, is he going to kiss her?"

"Shut up, you'll ruin it."

Lelina's head whipped around to see Marcus and a third year boy in her house with dirty blonde hair. Lorcan, she thought he was called. And her skin tone darkened considerably.

"They... I... I mean, we..." Lelina stumbled over her words, feeling like an idiot. Never in her life had she had so much trouble with stringing a sentence together.

"I already saw my _brother_ kissing someone today!" Lorcan complained. "What is it, the day where everyone declares their love, or something?"

Marcus snorted.

"Oh, shut up," Lelina shot at her brother, feeling mortified.

She glanced warily at Lorcan at the same time Marcus shot a look at James.

"He knows," Lelina whispered quietly to Marcus. At exactly the same time Marcus nodded, "It's okay."

James removed his hands from Lelina's shoulders and took his feet out of the predictably freezing cold water. He turned away and made a big production out of drying his feet and putting his shoes and socks back on.

Lelina glared at her brother, who was snickering. "Just. Shut. Up."

But it seemed that Marcus couldn't resist a smirk. This irked Lelina, as it was embarrassing having her little brother (when she said 'little' she meant in age, not height – in height he was far taller than her) grinning broadly at her because of who she possibly, maybe, _sort _of liked. But only a _tiny_ bit.

"So, James Potter, eh?"


	25. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy and Azkaban

Chapter X – Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy and Azkaban Prison

_'Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend.'  
- Bill Watterson_

It was when they had just managed to jump down the small cliff that it happened.

First of all, Scorpius's wand light flickered and went out. Then Hugo's light failed, shortly followed by Lily's, then Albus's, and then, finally, Selene's wand was extinguished.

The five of them huddled together in the darkness, a sense of dread curling in the pit of Scorpius's stomach.

And then a chill that had nothing to do with the gloomy weather seeped throughout Scorpius's body like a dull mist, draining him of any happy or positive thoughts. His first thought was that this must be one of the Dementors, before he just thought hopelessly that one of them would probably end up in the sea... there was no reason for this pointless mission... His great aunt Bellatrix would try to kill them, or something...

Scorpius was all but drowning in his own despair.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" yelled Selene, brandishing her wand at the approaching Dementor. A bright silver pine marten burst out of the tip of her wand. The Dementor, who was reaching out a rotting, scabby, decayed hand from under its black cloak, faltered. Its hood was covering its eyes, but Scorpius was sure that they would be burning with rage – if it had any. Now Scorpius was struggling to fight a new wave of depression that threatened to overpower him...

But Selene's Patronus was working. It appeared to be driving the Dementor back. Some of Scorpius's willpower was returning to him, and it felt just about the best feeling ever – all of his positive emotions flooding back.

More Dementors were approaching, but they were hovering a couple of feet away, seeming uncertain. Evidently, Scorpius realised, the Dementors thought that he, Selene, Albus, Hugo, and Lily were from the Ministry – just checking up on all the prisoners.

Scorpius could have laughed out loud. The Dementors were retreating. Their wands were re-lighting themselves. And the prison cells were within sight.

The prison cells.

As the first cell came into sight, a man leered unpleasantly at them from a corner in his cell. The cell wasn't well furnished at all – there was simply a dirty bed in the corner.

Scorpius shivered, moving closer to Selene's glowing Patronus.

"Where's Bellatrix Lestrange?" Selene was obviously trying to talk to one of the nearest Dementors. "Be-la-tricks. Le-strange." She spoke slowly, enunciating her words carefully as though the Dementor was a three year old child.

"Stop it!" Albus pulled her away by the arm. "I don't think it understands." He shivered, staring at the nearest Dementor. Scorpius could see the cloaked and hooded shape reflected in his bright green eyes. "None of them do."

"I know which cell they put her in."

The thin voice came from the leering man. Scorpius eyed him suspiciously – the man was probably out of his mind, being surrounded by Dementors day and night – but Selene was already edging closer.

"You do?" she asked eagerly.

Hugo laid his hand on Selene's arm warningly. "Be careful!" he hissed.

But Selene wouldn't be reasoned with. She took the bars of his cell in both of her hands, as though she could break through and get the information out of him more quickly. "Where?"

The leering man's eyes slid past Selene, whose whole body was now pressed against the iron bars, and fell on Scorpius. His small eyes contracted with anger.

"You!" he snarled. He jumped up from his crouched position and crossed the cell in three great strides.

Scorpius backed away, even though it was obvious that the man couldn't reach him. Even Selene stepped back a few paces – the man was foaming at the mouth.

"You may have betrayed the Dark Lord and escaped Azkaban, Draco, but mark my words, the _true_ Death Eaters will have their revenge on you, and Lucius, and Narcissa... Draco, your death will be slow and painful – you joined forces with Potter..." The man was cut off in the middle of his rant as he saw Albus. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "_POTTER_!" he roared.

Scared by the man's condition, Scorpius grabbed Selene (who was still staring at the man, transfixed) and hurried away.

"But he might know-" complained Selene longingly, staring at the man's cell.

"Selene, look at his state of mind," panted Scorpius. He wanted to put as much distance between himself and that former Death Eater as he could.

"Right," Lily agreed, catching up with them. "He doesn't even know what _time_ he's in – he thought Al was my dad and he thought Scorp was _his_ dad. He can't discern years from each other."

Selene bit her lip and sighed. "But..." She didn't seem convinced.

Scorpius sped up to a fast march. They needed to find Bellatrix Lestrange, and get out of here as soon as physically possible.

***

"Just stop talking to all the former Death Eaters, would you?!" burst out Lily in exasperation after wandering all over the island for about half an hour. "We'd like to get out alive and with our wands intact, please!"

Even Selene seemed to be beginning to lose hope – she'd already had to cast her Patronus again twice.

Lily seemed extremely frazzled – her nerves, much like Selene's, were stretched until they were in danger of breaking under the strain. She kept clenching and unclenching her hands, and it appeared that Selene could push her no further after talking to two separate prisoners who were so clearly trying to just get her to give them her wand that it wasn't even funny.

"Calm down, Lily." Albus laid a hand on Lily's shoulder. "Your big brother knows just what to do to help you, see?" He was making a vain attempt to be cheerful, but his eyes were tired and dull, and Scorpius knew that he was thinking exactly the same thing that he was – maybe they _should_ just give up. After all, it was – according to Scorpius's watch – half past one in the morning.

Lily blew upwards in a very fed up sort of manner. It ruffled her fringe up, which she immediately smoothed down. Scorpius gazed at her. It looked kind of sweet.

_Shut up,_ he told himself sharply. _Not the moment._

The pine marten Patronus flickered again.

"_Expecto Patronum_," called Selene again, but Scorpius could see that it was with effort. He felt a brief flicker of despair before the Patronus glowed strongly and a wave of positive emotions washed over him.

Scorpius looked at Selene closely. Now that he took a good look at her, he could see that she looked rather ill. There were dark circles under her bright blue eyes – only they weren't so bright anymore, they were dulled. Her arms hung limply at her sides – in fact, Scorpius was surprised that she managed to hold her wand – and her stature was slumped.

Albus seemed to have noticed the same thing. He peered around the corner of a large chunk of rock that jutted out from a cell wall.

"She's got to be around here somewhere…" he muttered. He bit his lip, and then drew a deep gulp of cold, stinging air, apparently throwing caution to the winds. "_Bellatrix_!_ Bellatrix Lestrange_!"

His thin voice bounced off the rocks and echoed eerily away, getting whipped out of hearing by the wind. The prisoners in nearby cells didn't even quiver – it was clear that they were too far out of their minds to even react.

Albus had the right idea, Scorpius realised. The Dementors couldn't hear, and the other prisoners didn't seem to care – it would be much more productive than just wandering around in circles for hours, at any rate.

"_Bellatrix_!" Scorpius cupped his hands around his mouth to try and produce a louder sound, though he could hardly hear himself over the whistling of the wind. "_Bellatrix_! _Rodolphus Lestrange_!"

Albus turned and nodded encouragingly to Lily and Hugo. Hugo nodded.

"_Bellatrix Lestrange_!"

Lily took a deep, shuddering breath. Scorpius saw her mouth the words, 'Please, please, let us escape out of this alive' and then she put her hands on either side of her mouth and screwed up her eyes.

"_Rodolphus Lestrange_!"

Scorpius strained his ears, trying to listen for some response over the howling sea wind.

But there was none.

Scorpius sighed. It had been worth a try. But it had yielded no results, and now they were back to square one – wandering around and around and around.

But, to Scorpius's surprise, Selene then gave a small smile. Scorpius was taken aback – it was the least thing _he_ felt like doing, and he couldn't imagine what _she_ felt like – it was her mother and father, after all.

"Are you a wizard or not?" she shouted in a slightly playful voice in Scorpius's ear. She put her wand to her neck.

For a second, Scorpius feared that she was going to do something mad like blast her throat. He was about to reach forward to stop her, when she spoke.

"_Sonorus_!" she cried.

And then, it was like a light had been flicked on in Scorpius's brain. _The charm_.

"_BELLATRIX_!_ LESTRANGE_!_ ROLPHODUS_!_ LESTRANGE_!" screamed Selene, her voice magically enhanced by the spell she had cast on herself. This time, you could certainly hear her voice over the wind – Scorpius slammed his hands over his ears, as the booming of her voice was nearly unbearable.

As Selene's voice finally died away and fell silent, all five of them strained to listen for an answer. The tension was electric between them – this time they were expecting something. At least... _something_.

And, suddenly, all the Dementors turned and began to congregate around a cell several hundred feet away.

The swarms of Dementors took a long, rattling breath. The wind dropped. All was silent.

In the faint silver glow of Selene's pine marten Patronus (their wand light had died again) Scorpius clenched his fists tightly and automatically stepped closer to Lily. His eyes were stretched wide over his skull. Something was going to happen, Scorpius was sure of it.

And, in the silence, a delighted, mirthless cackle sounded from the cell that the Dementors were assembling around.


	26. Bellatrix Lestrange and Escapades

Chapter XI – Bellatrix Lestrange and Escapades

_'If this escapade has taught me anything, it's that you never know what's in the future.'  
- Mary Schmich_

"Mother?" Selene looked like she could barely believe it. Without thinking, she rushed forward, the pine marten loping along in her wake. Scorpius swiftly sped after her, though reluctantly. But he didn't want to stray outside the circle of protection that the Patronus gave out.

The Dementors didn't seem to be able to touch them. They were obviously trying to stop the five of them getting to the cell, but didn't seem to be having much luck – the pine marten Patronus kept getting in the way.

"Charge them!" Scorpius yelled at the silvery creature, not knowing whether it would understand or listen to him (as he wasn't the one who had cast it). Maybe it wouldn't even physically be _able_ to keep all the Dementors at bay… after all, it was tiny…

_No… it's growing weaker!_ Scorpius felt panicked. Gloom and despair were creeping up on him, and he didn't know whether he could survive much longer in this crowd of soul sucking creatures.

Selene was gazing longingly into the cell, hope and despair battling in her eyes. She didn't know whether to be happy that it really was her mother, or sad that she couldn't reach her, Scorpius realised.

Because it was truly her. Her hair was long, black, and thick, and Scorpius could tell that it had once been shining, but was now dulled and wild around her face. Her lips were thin and her jaw was strong, and Scorpius could just imagine her holding her head up in arrogance. Her eyes were heavily lidded and dark. They were just like Lelina and Marcus's – but so _unlike_ them. Her eyes swirled with a dark, dangerous sort of greed, and the expression of malice on her face was enough for Scorpius to instantly distrust his great aunt.

But it was vital that Selene thought that she would be with her mother. If not, the Patronus would fade, and… Scorpius shuddered.

"Selene!" he croaked, feeling worse by the second. A horrible sensation that all was going to fail was welling up inside him. He glanced over at the others – the pained expressions on their faces were enough to convince Scorpius that they were going through the same thing.

But he forced himself to try and think positively. _Even though it's hopeless…_

"You'll be fine!" he said. "You'll see her. We'll all live. We'll find your dad, too, and then we can go home… and Lelina and Marcus… you have to be strong for them!"

Selene looked around, hope briefly flaring before a vestige of despair dulled it.

"Yes!" Scorpius nodded eagerly. "We'll be fine," he repeated loudly, trying to drown out the sounds of the Dementors' rattling breaths. _They can sense that we're giving up…_

From the corner of his eye, Scorpius saw Lily raise her wand.

"_Expecto patronum_," she whispered hoarsely. She was trying to fight, even though she was only a first year… trying to cast a Patronus of her own… Trying to think of something happy… although there was nothing and no one happy any more…

Lily was now on her knees. Albus and Hugo were already slumped on the floor. The Patronus was gone, and only a faint silvery wisp had momentarily whooshed out of Lily's wand.

"There was something."

Scorpius was shocked to see that Selene was able to whip her head around so fast – his limbs felt as heavy as lead.

"Try it again," Selene whispered. "_Expecto patronum_." A silver pine marten burst out of her wand, but the shape was watery and hazy…

"_Expecto patronum. Expecto patronum_," muttered Lily. The misshapen pine marten circled her. Her voice grew stronger. "_Expecto patronum_!"

Scorpius was outside the protection of the pine marten Patronus. "Lily…" he gasped, without thinking. He was on all fours, falling to the ground with a thud.

"Scorpius?" Lily faltered.

Their eyes met for a fraction of a second.

"Think of something happy," Scorpius whispered, before a cold wave of depression swept his vision, and he fainted.

***

A small fire seemed to have been lit in Lily's head as Scorpius's eyes met with hers. As Lily watched, he passed out – now only she and Selene were left conscious.

_Think of something happy._

"_Expecto Patronum_!" She brandished her wand. A strand of silvery stuff shot out of her wand and disappeared. But the Dementor that was approaching her… it seemed to have _stopped_…

_If I can keep doing that…_

"_Expecto Patronum_!_ Expecto Patronum_! _Expecto Patronum_!" It was exhausting, but Lily forced herself to keep going. For the sake of her brother… her cousin… and Scorpius…

Selene's misty Patronus was still hovering beside Lily as Selene pressed herself up against Bellatrix Lestrange's cell.

Lily shivered. She didn't trust her as far as she could throw her, but Selene didn't seem to share her concern.

As Lily was distracted, a clammy hand grabbed her arm. She shrieked in terror – it was a Dementor.

"_Expecto Patronum_!" she shouted, shuddering as a half formed Patronus shot out of her wand. She stumbled backwards as the Dementor released its hold on her – why wasn't Selene's Patronus working?

"Mother…" Lily could just see one of Selene's bright blue eyes – it was filled with a strange longing that seemed to be half joy, half terrible sadness.

The sight of her daughter seemed to have almost snapped Bellatrix back into sanity, even surrounded by all the Dementors.

"You're… Selene?" Bellatrix stood up and approached the bars of her cell. She was tall and her walk was graceful.

Selene nodded eagerly.

"You still have those eyes…" Bellatrix's own eyes shone.

Her eyes fell on the unconscious Scorpius, as well as Lily the also unconscious Albus and Hugo.

"That's Draco's son…" she said slowly. "And that…" Her eyes narrowed. "Those are the Potter kids and the Mudblood's kid."

Her hair cast her face into shadow, and for a second she looked quite terrifying. The hairs on the back of Lily's neck stood up as she was seized by an inexplicable fear that had nothing to do with the Dementors.

"Where's my father?" asked Selene. There was an edge of hunger to her voice.

Bellatrix turned back to Selene, whipping her head around sharply.

"He's… well…" She fumbled over her words, and she was staring at Selene's hand.

And then, Lily understood.

Selene's wand was in her hand.

And her hand was pressed against the bars.

"Selene!" she screamed, leaving Scorpius and the others and darted through the swarms of Dementors.

But Bellatrix, seeing that Lily had caught on, was too quick. She snatched the wand out of her daughter's hand. Selene gave a cry of astonishment.

"Can't stop me now!" Bellatrix gave an evil grin, her eyes glittering as she pointed Selene's wand at the bars of her cell. "Want it, can't have it!" she said in a sing song voice. "_Confringo_!"

But then, something pushed Lily out of the way. Her face smacked onto the hard rock and she tasted blood. She looked up and saw that Selene had been pushed out of the way, too. Someone had regained consciousness, evidently – but who?

Bellatrix's Blasting Curse hit the door and it exploded into flames. Chunks of metal flew everywhere. Lily put her head down and waited until it was relatively quiet.

Hugo was lying on the floor, bleeding from what looked like a severe head wound.

"Hugo!" she screeched, rushing over to her cousin.

But it appeared that she had been too loud.

"Stop! _Crucio_!" A jet of red light hit Lily and she stopped in her tracks.

The pain was unbearable. It was as though a thousand white hot irons were being pressed against her bare skin. She felt as though her skull was being split in two, as though her very bones were on fire… She was in so much pain she didn't even realise that she was screaming as though the world were about to end…

And then it stopped, and Lily was lying, crumpled, on the ground. Bellatrix was leering at her.

"Did that hurt very much, little Potter girl?" she taunted. "It hurt your daddy, too, when _he_ was cross with me for murdering my dear cousin…"

"Shut up!" Lily yelled. She stared over at Albus and Scorpius, who were still lying, unmoving, passed out.

Selene was cowering behind a rock, and Hugo appeared to have lost consciousness again from loss of blood.

Bellatrix, still gripping Selene's wand, hissed, "_Expecto Patronum_." A silver cobra burst out of Selene's wand and slithered at the Dementors, who glided away, fleeing more easily than Selene's Patronus had caused them to do. She then walked slowly over to Hugo.

"The Mudblood kid…" she muttered. "Filthy half blood. _Crucio_."

It was agony to watch – Hugo was writhing on the ground, in the same amount of pain that Lily had been in a few moments ago… and he was still unconscious.

"Stop it!" cried Selene. She looked utterly horrified to discover that her mother was a sadistic torturer.

Bellatrix gave a wicked, slightly insane smile.

"As you wish, my dearest daughter." Her eyes glinted. "_Avada Kedrava_!"

It was over in a flash of green light. The Killing Curse, directly pointed at Hugo. And now, he would never wake from his oblivion.

"_No_!" shrieked Selene, grief battling out anger in her eyes. "_No_! _No_!"

Lily was so furious that she was shaking.

"_You_!" she spat. "_You killed him_!_ You killed my cousin_! _I'll kill you_! _I'll_-"

But Bellatrix was laughing. "Your father tried that one on me." She grinned. "The Cruciatus Curse barely worked for a second. And I can't image _you'll_ be any better, given that he was four years older than you when he tried it."

Lily stood stock still.

"_Avada Kedrava_!" Bellatrix screeched.

And Lily saw no alternative but to run. She ducked under rocks, hid under crevices, darted around as Bellatrix mercilessly tried to hit her with more and more Killing Curses.

"Don't run from me! _Crucio_!"

Lily felt the curse graze her hair as she ducked at the last moment. But she just had to keep running… keep Bellatrix at bay until… what, she didn't know. But _something_ had to happen… If she kept it up for long enough…

"_Confringo_!" Unexpectedly, Bellatrix whirled around and shot another Blasting Curse at the bars of another cell. "_Confringo_! _Confringo_!"

_Oh, no… she's getting back up!_ A surge of dread rose inside Lily as the former Death Eaters began pouring out of the cells of Azkaban prison.

An inexperienced eleven year old girl. She was an _inexperienced eleven year old girl_.

She didn't stand a chance.


	27. Lelina Adalia Lestrange and the Arrival

Chapter XII – Lelina Adalia Lestrange and the Arrival

_'It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we're missing until it arrives.'  
- Unknown_

All the spells Lily had learned in the past month flew through Lily's head. She gripped her wand tightly as the former Death Eaters approached, forming a tight circle around her and the unconscious Albus and Scorpius, as well as a sobbing Selene, who was staring, shaking, at Hugo's body.

"Help me, Selene!" Lily whispered. "Help me!" But she had no wand, Selene could do nothing…

"_Crucio_!" cried Bellatrix, pointing Selene's wand at Lily. Lily ducked – just a second too late. The curse hit her and she was screaming again as red hot knives seemed to plunge themselves into her skin… Her eyes rolled upwards in her head and she couldn't even hear her wand clattering to the ground as her fingers went limp around it… But she had to have her wand… she had to save her wand before the Death Eaters got it…

Trying with all her might to fight the excruciating pain that she was enduring, Lily tried to feel for her wand, because she couldn't see, couldn't hear…

She was only aware of the warm, salty wetness of the tears streaming down her cheeks, and the relief that swept through her as her violently trembling fingers closed on something thin and wooden.

"_Enough_!"

The pain evaporated, but Lily was still shaking, much distressed. Bellatrix was looking daggers at her from only a couple of metres away, wand pointed directly at Lily's heart. Lily pointed her own wand at Bellatrix, terrified out of her mind but still willing to keep fighting.

There was the sound of crunching stone from behind her. Assuming it was the Death Eaters, Lily didn't dare look behind her, especially since Bellatrix would willingly kill her the moment they lost eye contact.

But then, out of the corner of her eye, Lily glimpsed white blonde hair. She sucked her breath in, trying not to portray the feeling of utter _relief _that she felt.

On her other side, Lily caught sight of black hair. If she hadn't feared that one of You Know Who's fiercest supporters was about to murder her the moment that she looked away, Lily would have screamed for joy.

Albus and Scorpius were awake.

***

Scorpius couldn't believe the scene. Little Lily Potter, facing a crazed Bellatrix Lestrange and a whole army of captured and cornered Death Eaters singlehandedly. Selene was sobbing tearlessly over what appeared to be…

No, Hugo couldn't be _dead_. But if he wasn't, why was Selene crying so unrestrainedly over his bloodied and battered body…?

He had shaken Albus awake as soon as he had regained consciousness. And they had stood for a second, frozen with fear and rage, as Lily was tortured with the Cruciatus Curse.

And Scorpius couldn't sit there and watch that for much longer. In fact, he couldn't watch that for _any_ longer.

He and Albus now stood, side by side, beside Lily. Her clothes were torn and smudged with mud – she was also soaked to the skin with rain water and sea water. There were numerous scratches and burns scoring lines on her arms and face. There was an open cut on her forehead, which was bleeding freely. Lily didn't seem to have noticed it.

There was also a sheen of tears shining on her face. Scorpius trembled with anger as he realised what Lily had been through whilst he and Albus had been knocked out.

And, somehow, _Lily still had her wand_. They had three wands, and the Death Eaters only had one.

"_Stupefy_!" Scorpius shouted, breaking the silence. His Stunning Spell hit one of the Death Eaters. "_Stupefy_!_ Stupefy_!"

Albus joined in. "_Petrificus Totalus_! _Locomotor Mortis_! _Confundo_!_ Reducto_!" He appeared to be shooting off spells at random, rather than having a particular plan, but it seemed to be working.

However, they had forgotten Bellatrix Lestrange.

"_Avada_-" she screeched, raising a wand she had stolen from Merlin knew where.

"_Impedimenta_!" interrupted Scorpius loudly, knocking a Death Eater out of the way. Bellatrix Lestrange froze – but the Impediment Jinx was not permanent.

They needed to act.

"Quick, quick!" Scorpius shouted into the general confusion. But Lily was shooting spells off at several former Death Eaters, while Albus was helping Selene drag Hugo away from the action.

Scorpius's heart lurched – that meant that he really was… dead. But now was not the time to think of that – he needed help.

Sprinting over to Bellatrix's frozen form, Scorpius reached out to grab the stolen wand out of Bellatrix's hand. But, at that moment (Scorpius was later to think how terrible that timing was) the Impediment Jinx wore off and Bellatrix was free to move again.

Scorpius tried to dart out of her way, but Bellatrix seized him by the neck, her dark eyes wild and held the stolen wand to his throat. Her hands were like talons, Scorpius thought, as the nails dug into his neck as though she wanted to cause him as much pain as possible.

Everything stopped. The thirty or so Death Eaters that had been let out of their cells immobilized where they stood. Lily halted, too, her wand held threateningly above her head.

"So," hissed Bellatrix. "You're Draco's son."

Scorpius knew that it would be futile to resist – possibly trying to escape would make his death approach more quickly.

"Yes," he spat.

"Your family…" Bellatrix pouted in a way that made her look very sorry for herself. Scorpius didn't let his guard down. "You renounced us, didn't you? You renounced the Dark Lord?"

"I wouldn't know." Scorpius's voice trembled with rage. "The Dark Lord was before my time."

"Oh, but hasn't your father told you?" Bellatrix looked mockingly surprised. "Or your grandfather – or my dear sister, Cissy?"

"My grandmother's dead," replied Scorpius coldly. "And my grandfather soon will be."

"Draco did away with them, then? Pity he wasn't strong enough to kill when the time _really_ mattered…" Bellatrix bared her teeth in an unpleasant grin. "Albus Dumbledore, for example. Now, we here, the loyal ones who have been shut up in Azkaban… we're not too happy with my dear nephew."

Scorpius made no movements, and kept his face impassive.

"If only there was a way too… I don't know… get him back?" Bellatrix was still smiling her nasty smile. "Make us quits, if you like… For betraying us. Don't you think that would be fair?"

Scorpius still forced himself to say nothing.

"And what better way…" continued Bellatrix, "than to do away with his only son?"

"No!" screamed Lily. She made as though to run forward, but two Death Eaters grabbed her and pinned her arms at her sides. She thrashed futilely. "No, no, kill his father instead! Kill _me_! Kill his father – he's the one you want to get even with!"

Bellatrix looked over at Lily with an expression of quiet disdain on her features. "You're right; Draco is the one we want to… feel the wrath of our displeasure." She blinked slowly. "But I learn from the Dark Lord's mistakes. Undoubtedly, there may be worse things than death… for some, anyway, and for Draco." And then, without warning, she turned her wand on Scorpius. "_Crucio_!"

And, for the first time in his life, Scorpius felt the pain of an Unforgivable Curse. It was agony, pure agony, the worst form of torture… but it was only for a second.

The next thing he knew, the pain was gone, and Bellatrix was on the ground.

"_Tarantallegra_!" shouted a voice which Scorpius never thought that he'd be pleased to hear – _Rose_.

The third year Gryffindor skidded down the slope, wand flourished in front of her. Compared to the rest of them, Rose looked very well groomed indeed – even her usual silver hair slide was perfectly set in place.

Bellatrix's legs began jerking around in a kind of quickstep, but she quickly tapped her feet with her wand and they stopped at once.

But now Scorpius could see more people hurrying down the slope – Lelina, Marcus, James, Lorcan, and Lysander. And they were all carrying wands – wonderful wands.

Lelina dashed forward, her face contorting with a frenzied fury.

"_Sectumsempra_!" she screamed.

"_Protego_!" countered Bellatrix, from the ground. The hastily cast Shield Charm protected her from the worst of the damage, but Scorpius could see that her arm had a gained deep cut on it. It was bleeding profusely, but Bellatrix made no attempt to staunch it. "_Avada Kedrava_!"

Lelina ducked and pulled Marcus out of the way.

"I'm your daughter!" she screeched at Bellatrix. "I'm your daughter! Don't you _care_?!"

"Why should I?" jeered Bellatrix. "You're just _useless_!"

In a rage, Lelina threw down her wand. For a second, Scorpius feared that she was giving up, before she leaped at Bellatrix and transformed into a corsac fox mid-leap.

Marcus charged towards his mother, changing himself into a sun bear and dropping his wand along the way.

Scorpius looked across at Selene. Even she looked angry. Becoming a pine marten, Selene ran to join her siblings on the assault of their flesh and blood mother.

The Death Eaters were Disapparating now. Cracks could be heard all throughout as the area grew considerably emptier.

Lysander snatched up Lelina's wand and grabbed Rose's hand. "Come on!" he shouted. "We have to get back to the fire! They'll take it from here!"

Rose nodded, grabbing Marcus's wand, and the two of them scrambled back up the slope, not breaking their clasped hands.

As terrible as the situation was, Scorpius managed a grin. _How long were we gone?_

Selene broke away for a second, turning back into herself. "Go!" she urged. "They're right!"

James nodded. He tore his eyes away from the Lelina-fox and grabbed his wand, as well as Selene's, which was lying on the ground.

"_Mobilicorpus_," he muttered. Hugo's body was lifted a few inches off the ground, his head lolling grotesquely. James, Albus and Lorcan then set off after Lysander and Rose.

Bellatrix was still fighting, though, and Scorpius couldn't leave without finding out if they were all alive – well, the _rest_ of them, anyway.

Lily seemed to mirror his thoughts. She was still pointing her wand at Bellatrix, and Scorpius thought he knew what was preventing her from attacking – the three animals were darting everywhere, nipping and scratching, and they couldn't risk striking one of them.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" Bellatrix kept screeching. "_Avada Kedavra_!"

Scorpius could hardly bear watching such a scene. If that jet of green light had gone a millimetre closer to Marcus's arm… if Lelina hadn't dodged that at the last millisecond…

Lily sidled up to him and squeezed his hand. They would just have to wait until… something gave. The Dementors had fled to the other side of the island; there would be no danger from them… But Bellatrix was still at large.

The small party had now reached the top of the slope. Lysander, Rose, and James turned back to Lily and Scorpius.

"Catch!" mouthed Lysander. He flicked his wand, presumably using the Banishing Charm.

Lelina's, Marcus's, and Selene's wands flew away from the party. Scorpius reached out and caught all three in his outstretched hand. He gave a forced smile and a thumbs up.

They had five wands, but they could not use them.


	28. Hugo Weasley and an Untimely Death

Chapter XIII – Hugo Weasley and an Untimely Death

_'His death is rather unexplainable. We don't know enough about it, but we do know that he was too young to die and succeeded at just about everything he tried in his life.'  
- Pete Domenici_

"Give me that! Right now!"

Lelina transformed back into herself, stormed over to Scorpius, and snatched her wand out of his hand.

Marcus and Selene turned back into themselves, too, seeming confused at what their sister was doing.

"What are you doi-" started Marcus, before he was cut short by Lelina, who appeared to be ignoring him.

"We duel. You and me. _Now_." Lelina's voice was a deadly whisper as she faced her mother. Her black eyes were smouldering.

Bellatrix laughed softly. "My little baby girl wants to battle with me!" She put on a babyish lisp, sounding falsely delighted. "That's so sweet."

"Well?" Lelina tapped her foot on the rocky turf impatiently. "Is that a 'yes'?"

"Of course I will." Bellatrix grinned, still adopting the lisp. "Though it's embarrassing being challenged by a fifteen year old girl."

"_Stupefy_!" cried Lelina in a rage, not even waiting to bow like the rules suggested. However, Bellatrix didn't seem fussed about petty niceties. She flicked her wand and cast a non verbal Shield Charm. She Disapparated and then appeared again on top of where she had formerly been trapped.

"Too slow!" she sang.

"_Sectumsempra_!" shrieked Lelina.

Bellatrix laughed, deflecting the curse again with a simple wave of her wand. "You'll have to do better th-"

"_Avada Kedrava_!"

Time seemed to stand still.

There was Lelina, who was standing, stock still with her wand pointed at Bellatrix's heart. There were Marcus and Selene, who were gaping, open mouthed, at the scene unfolding before them. There was Bellatrix, still laughing and singing at her daughter's weakness, her foolishness in even challenging her. And there was the arrow of bright green light that illuminated their faces in the darkness of the night. It hung in the air for less than a moment, as though it were unsure what to do next, and then it fell in a graceful arc and hit Bellatrix squarely in the chest.

Without the slightest change in expression, Bellatrix fell backwards, as lifeless as Hugo had been.

Lelina was still pointing her wand at the spot where Bellatrix had been standing moments before. She was gasping for breath.

"Y-you did it." Selene's voice came out in a hoarse whisper. "You murdered her."

"I… I…" Lelina was trembling. She turned around. "I'm sorry." Her voice sounded broken.

"It's fine." Marcus's voice was rough. "More than fine. You… she killed Hugo. She tortured people."

Selene gave a mute nod.

"Yes, but…" Lelina seemed to be struggling with words. "I should have…"

"You should have what?" Scorpius couldn't help speaking up. "You can't have done any more than you already have, Lelina."

"I'm…" Lelina shook her head violently. "Selene, I know you really wanted to meet our parents."

Now it was Selene's turn to shake her head. "No," she said. "I wanted to meet a _mum_. She wasn't a mum. She was a murderer."

"Selene…"

"She killed Hugo…" muttered Selene, running a hand through her straggly hair, "but it was my fault."

"No-"

"It was!" insisted Selene, her voice pained. "I trusted her too much. I got too close to her… enough for her to steal my wand. My wand did all those horrible, horrible things, Lelina! This is the wand that killed Hugo! This is the wand that tortured Lily and Scorpius! And I didn't do anything!"

Lily shivered beside Scorpius. Scorpius squeezed her hand more tightly, trying to reassure her.

"It wasn't your fault, though," said Marcus. His expression was earnest. "She could have tricked anyone."

"But she tricked me, and I was _stupid_ enough to fall for it!"

"If it's anyone's fault, it's mine," said Lelina. "I didn't tell you – _warn_ you – about who our real parents were. If anyone's to blame, it's me."

"But-" interjected Selene, before Lily interrupted.

"For Merlin's sake!" she burst out. "Can you all just stop _blaming_ yourselves? It's done now – over. The Death Eaters are at large again, and Bellatrix Lestrange is dead. Instead of focusing on who was to blame for killing Hugo, think about _him_ for a change! Is that so hard?"

There was a silence as Lily glared at Lelina, Marcus, and Selene.

"That's a lot of wisdom in a child," Scorpius put in.

"I'm not a child!" shot back Lily, though her expression was softened. "I'm just... young, and short."

Scorpius grinned.

Selene sighed. "She's right. You know, she is right in every sense. Every. Single. Sense." She rubbed her forehead with her hand.

"We're really stupid," offered Lelina.

Scorpius looked at Lily. Her brown eyes were pained. When they got back to the castle, they'd have to face Hugo's funeral, and everyone would know what had happened, and…

"I want to go to bed," Lily mumbled.

***

_"Today, we will celebrate the life of a young boy who was only just beginning his Hogwarts journey. He should have had many happy times out of his education here, but he will stay in our hearts and memories always."_

The words of the head teacher rang in Scorpius's ears throughout the week. He had faced even worse whispers and stares than he was used to through his 'Slythindor' status, as he had 'seen it' and 'been there'. He had told everyone a thousand times that he wished he hadn't, but no one seemed to be listening to him. Or Lily. Or Selene. Or Albus.

The four of them had got the worst of the mutterings (as they had all 'actually been there' when Hugo died) but Lorcan, Lysander, Rose, Marcus, James, and Lelina got their fair share, too.

Two hundred and fifty points had been added to the Gryffindor hourglass (fifty for each Albus, Scorpius, James, Lily, and Rose), as well as one hundred for Ravenclaw (from Lorcan and Lelina), fifty to Hufflepuff (courtesy of Lysander) and fifty for Slytherin (all thanks to Marcus). A total of four hundred and fifty house points was a poor price to pay for Hugo's life, though, and it wasn't until the Christmas holidays that a small ray of hope pierced through Scorpius's depressed bubble.

The previous day, they had broken up, and now Scorpius was playing wizard chess with Albus in the common room. Neither of them was very good at it, and even the pawns were groaning at their terrible tactical skills.

Rose was writing a letter by the fire. She and her parents corresponded far too regularly than was natural nowadays, ever since the death of her brother. Lysander supported her, but even he wasn't as sad about the death as she was.

It was fairly quiet in the common room – at least, until Lysander burst in.

Albus looked up. "Lysander?" He looked puzzled. "You're not allowed in here."

"I am helping." Lysander looked very pleased with himself. He strode over to Rose.

"Er… what are you doing?" Rose looked slightly fearful. She looked around. "At least Rachael's not around."

Scorpius had now looked up, interested. Lily had sidled down the staircase to her dormitory.

"What's he doing?" she whispered. "Why's he here?"

Scorpius shrugged. "I have no idea."

But now Lysander was clearing his throat. He pulled a scroll of parchment out of his pocket, cleared his throat, and began to read.

"_You are sad about death,  
Which is understandable, I guess.  
But I see you sad,  
And I'm not very glad,  
Your sadness is infectious,  
And I don't like being sad.  
From Lysander._"

The common room exploded into a great shout of laughter.

Lily's face split into a wide grin. "That was sweet!"

Scorpius was laughing. "Half of it didn't even rhyme! 'Death' and 'guess'… Lysander will never fail to amaze me."

"It's the thought that counts," Lily reprimanded him, although she was still smiling in a way that much suggested that she would have liked to laugh, too, if she didn't have morals.

Scorpius shrugged. "I suppose."

It was at that moment that he realised that it was the first time that he had felt properly happy since Lysander's death.

And, at the same moment, he realised that Lily's fingers were locked in his. He looked up at Lily.

"Guess what," Lily whispered.

"What?"

Lily smiled. "I thought of something happy."

Scorpius went very red.

***

"Scorpius and Lily are holding hands!"

Albus was always so very immature.


End file.
